Meth: a Ticking Timebomb Gone Viral

Tell Me I Can't...And Watch Me

The likelihood of success depends on many things. Ability, timing, luck and definitely more factors than I can think of right now. But, there is one thing that makes me work harder than anything else whilst trying to achieve, and that's motivation. Motivation doesn't just happen, it is caused by someone or something of outside influence.

A prime example was back when I played rugby league. It's a hard physical sport. Players wear little protection other than a mouth guard, shoulder pads, and for some, who may have previously suffered, or want to try to prevent a concussion, headgear (not a helmet like in American football, but instead made from a firm rubber).

We were playing a team who were just as competitive as we were. It was in the lower grades, but the intensity was just the same as those playing in the higher grades. As we were warming up out on the field, the other team had formed a circle around their coach, who I assume was talking tactics and trying to motivate his team.

As we filed back into our dressing sheds, we heard their coach yell at us, saying, "Look...there's the wimps!"

Not exactly the smartest thing a coach can do before a game. I didn't think much about it as we ourselves began the process of getting into game mode. It was then that our co-captain, Wally, a huge guy who played in the prop position, came over to me and slapped me across the face hard. He then said, "They just called you a wimp...what are you going to do about it?"

Well, I imagine my eyes would have changed instantly to black as adrenalin surged through my body and brain. I felt something I had never felt before...fight or flight, or as was illustrated in the movie, Braveheart, I was about to go berserk. After the whistle blew to start the game, I don't really remember a lot. I was an average player at best, but that night, I became something I would never have dreamed possible, a really good and very aggressive rugby league player. They were having to make replacements due to the force of my tackles. I was quite literally trying to kill them within the rules of the sport.

At half-time, my coach approached me as we left the field well in the lead. He put his arm around my shoulders and told me I was killing them out there. And in the second half, I continued to devastate anyone foolish enough to carry the ball in my direction. I scored my only try for the season and received the Man of the Match award...something I had never received before and after that night, never did again.

For the next few days, I could hardly walk and movement of any kind was seriously painful. Once I had fully recovered, I reverted back to the average player I had always been. We are capable of so much more than we know, all we need is the right motivation. Watch any animal species, ourselves included, when young are threatened, and you will see the most mind mannered become something else altogether.

Today I received a call from the cremation company telling me that Mom's doctor was away on holiday and her cremation could not take place until her death certificate was signed when she returned on Wednesday. To him, it was only a two-day delay and when I explained how I felt about this, he (in my mind at least) shrugged his shoulders and said there was nothing anyone could do.

I have spent the last six months making sure my Mom was never alone for long and during those last three days she was alive, I hardly left her side. To then be told that, sorry, your Mom will need to remain alone in some freezer somewhere while her doctor was out shopping and relaxing, was unacceptable.

But, there was nothing anyone could do...so I told him, "Watch me."

I admit, I got lucky and came across someone at the holidaying doctor's practice who had recently lost a loved one. She must have heard in my voice how important it was to me that my mother not remain alone any longer than necessary, and together, we made the impossible, possible. When she called me back later to confirm she had received the email reply from Mom's doctor, and that the documentation had been signed, I burst like anything.

She already knows how much that one gesture meant to me...I made sure of that. But tomorrow, when I walk into her work with a bunch of flowers and a very sincere and heartfelt message (not just for her, but for the doctor who took the time away from her break), I think she will understand just how much one stranger's kindness can mean to another, in a world where gestures are becoming less acknowledged and less common.