A Story Of Courage

Three times he'd fallen, stumbling,
Three times he rose again:
Too far behind to hope to win,
He still ran to the end.

And even though he came in last,
With head bowed low, and proud,
You would have thought he'd won the race
To listen to the crowd.

And to his dad he sadly said
"I didn't do too well."
"To me you won," his father said,
"You rose each time you fell."

D. H. Groberg
From A Second Helping of Chicken Soup for the Soul