MESSAGE #115 - THE PAIN IS TEMPORARY. THE PRIDE IS FOREVER.

Doc Counsilman, the great swimming coach at Indiana University from 1957 to 1990, hung a banner over his pool. There were only three words on it:

HURT -- PAIN -- AGONY

On the first day of practice every fall, Coach Counsilman would gather his team on the pool deck and point to the banner.

Counsilman would then tell his swimmers that if they wanted to compete for Indiana University, they would have to train every day until they hurt. But, if they had bigger goals and they wanted to be an NCAA or a national champion, they would have to train until they were in pain. But, if they had even bigger goals, and they wanted to be a world or an Olympic champion, they would have to train until they were in agony.

HURT -- PAIN -- AGONY

The following story is one of my all-time favorites from Bits & Pieces magazine . . .

Although Henri Matisse was nearly 30 years younger than Auguste Renoir, the two great artists were dear friends and frequent companions.

When Renoir was confined to his home during the last decade of his life, Matisse visited him daily.

Renoir, almost totally paralyzed by arthritis, continued to paint in spite of his infirmities. One day, as Matisse watched the elderly painter working in his studio, fighting torturous pain with each brush stroke, he blurted out: “Auguste, why do you continue to paint when you are in such agony?”

Renoir answered simply, “The beauty remains; the pain passes.”

One of his most famous paintings, The Bathers, was completed just two years before his passing – 14 years after he was stricken by his disabling disease.

And so, almost to his dying day, Renoir put paint to canvas.

HURT -- PAIN -- AGONY