i have seen a lot of things in my day, but one thing i have never seen is a typical person produce atypical results

whether i was a the big news paper or a little blog that became big,

the ones who created the biggest splash were the ones who were willing to leap from the tallest high dives

and twist and turn and tumble and tuck and then

spread wide open as the earth and sea sped up to them

and then braced for impact.

they were also the ones who got out of the pool, watched what they had done

repeatedly

climbed up that giant ladder

step by step by step by step

and did it again and again and again constantly learning.

to me it’s the only way.

to me you can’t pay attention to the russian judge.

to me you can’t acknowledge that the water is cold or that youre getting old

to me you can’t blame your speedo or the wind or gravity or anything

you say how can

i

make magic right here and right now

how can

i

make possible the impossible, like i did then and then and then.

and that is not ordinary.

ordinary might keep you on the team but theres a percentage of us who are all

when the handshakes after the game happen, i wanna be one of them who the other side is all

dude, that was incredible.

i remember being in little league, thats how much this guy impressed me.

i was the only black kid in the league and he was the only japanese guy.

his name was kenji, i’ll never forget. we were like 9, maybe 10.

he was the star of his team, i was the star of mine.

and after i said, how do you say you fucking rule in japanese?

he didn’t know english very well.

he just smiled and bowed.

and said kenji.

which now that i write this down i think maybe

he did know english

perfectly.