Invictus

***spoilers note!!!***

For those who have not watched the movie Invictus, here is the Invictus poem Mandela gave the rugby captain if you did not manage to catch the words

Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds and shall find me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.

but, this is not the actual words given to the rugby captain. The following speech "The Man in the Arena" from Teddy Roosevelt are the actual words of wisdom given:

It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.

**********************
What made the above people great is their believe in themselves, to do great and not let any setbacks get into their goals. Mandela himself was sentenced to 30 plus years in prison, yet he never gave up hope in one day seeing South Africa unite and shed their bad political image. He was never once a 'sad story'. As Roosevelt puts it, there is no greatness without sacrifices and sheer hard work.

It is YOU who will lead your life, YOU who will determine who you really are. Are YOU ready to be great?