Many of you are familiar with Michael Phelps, one of the greatest athletes of all time. He has won more Olympic medals than anyone in any sport, including twenty-three gold medals.
Fewer of you know Hicham El Guerrouj (hil-kom El ga-ru-j), the Moroccan athlete who, with several Olympic gold medals of his own, is one of the greatest runners of all time.
Here is a fun piece of trivia about the two men: El Guerrouj is five feet, nine inches tall. Phelps is six feet, four inches tall. Despite this seven-inch difference, the two men wear the same length pants.
How is this possible?
Phelps has short legs for his height and a very long torso, the perfect body for swimming. El Guerrouj has incredibly long legs and a short upper body, the perfect frame for distance running.
Now, imagine if these two world-class athletes were to become jealous of one another and switch sports. Michael Phelps would flop as an Olympic runner. Similarly, El Guerrouj would be a schlepper in the pool. Phelp’s long torso is a weakness for running, but he uses
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it magnificently for swimming. El Guerrouj’s long legs are a liability when swimming, but precious assets for running.
Each of us has a similar predicament: G-d gave every child — each of us — strengths to develop and weaknesses to overcome. If we deal with them in the best possible way, if we don’t get jealous of what others have, but focus on developing our abilities in our own areas of strength, we grow into the best possible versions of ourselves, the people that G-d intended us to be. We will never be happy if we try to run when we are swimmers, or navigate a pool with the long legs of a runner. The only way to find genuine fulfillment is by recognizing who we are, as unique and idiosyncratic individuals. We can only be gold medalists in the races we were born to run.
