Determination Defies the Impossible

“The difference between the impossible and the possible lies in a person's determination." Tommy Lasorda. Tommy Lasorda was a major league baseball player for the Kansas City Athletics and became the manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers. The quote shows indicates us the obstacles that Tommy Lasorda overcame, winning against other teams. Life is like a maze; it presents many challenges and it takes a strong person that is able to push their determination to the limit and fight for success.

William Wissemann, was one of these people who had to overcome an obstacle, dyslexia. William was diagnosed with diagnosed as a young boy with dyslexia which effects his learning process. His dyslexia makes him an outlier from his classmates, making his learning capabilities different from other students. This disability caused him to go to a disability school to help him cope with his learning disability. William’s disability made it harder to learn in his academics. Although his disability kept him behind, struggling with his academics, he did not think it was impossible for him. William did not stop his academic studies just because of a disability, he did not stop thinking that dyslexia would be the end of his life and that he should live under a rock. He believed that if you have to move one step forward, you have to know the moves backwards. He was determined not to make the term ‘disability’ a bad connotation, but instead a positive connotation that will connect him to success. William made an impetus change from thinking it was a bad connotation into a good connotation, his actions by being determined to become just like anybody else. William is one of many who have to fight a daily battle to succeed. He battled a learning disability, which needed determination to push through, but some battle diseases which affect you physically.

Muhammad Ali, a three time heavy weight champion, a man who can overcome any enemy in sight, but now he faces the hardest enemy, not in the ring, but in his life. This enemy, Parkinson's disease, effects his quality of life. As Muhammad Ali lit the torch in the 1996 Olympics, his disability caused him to struggle. His left hand shook from the Parkinson's diseases. This video of him shows that even the simplest tasks are the hardest obstacles for him. Just imagine how hard it must be for him to brush his teeth, walk, eat and communicate effectively (Dyslexia effected his speech during the first few seconds of the “This I believe” article. It takes a lot of determination to fight Parkinson’s disease just to do the simplest work. Muhammad Ali believed that the ability to overcome an opponent is to believe in yourself and the power of determination. Ali has been in many battles and only lost 5 out of 61 fights. That determination not to lose is the determination to win. If he had enough determination to take down 61 people, then he can take down his disability problem. Learning from William Wissemann and Muhammad Ali, and their show of great determination to overcome mental and physical obstacles, I realized that I also have to overcome obstacles on my journey.

I myself have been struggling with what life gives me and how I have to learn how to learn from them. One of the obstacles that is always the hardest to defeat was the first time I touched my pen onto the paper to write. My writing from 2nd grade to 5th grade are the most frustrating times of my life, and it was during that part of my life when I felt that writing was never my thing. In 4th grade, doing the ISA testing, I received 2nd last out of all the students for writing. This is the time where my determination was lost and hope that my writing will never become as good as the others. But that incident that occurred was the incident that brought me where I am, fighting to be better writer. Ever since I received that mark, that low mark, my goals were set to become a better writer. The writings I wrote were usually repetitive, a big mess of ideas, and uncategorized paragraphs. Although I can not master and overcome these obstacles in a day, I am diligent to work through them and become a successful writer. I will confront these goals step by step, 1 by 1. Reading a book is a small movement that will cause a big effect in future, even though I regret not reading that much during the pass, I will use this time for the new.

In the future, we will face many obstacles from physical to mental obstacles, and both will be a great obstacles to overcome. If Muhammad Ali can fight against Parkinson's diseases, we can fight against the diesease. if William Wisseman overcome his disability of learning, we can fight against the disease, determination is the key factor what is impossible and impossible defying the word “impossible”. Nothing can be won easily, but you can still fight what is worth fighting for.