We Never Told Him He Couldn’t Do It

My son Joey was born with club feet. The doctors assured us that with treatment he would be able to walk normally - but would never run very well. The first three years of his life were spent in surgery, casts and braces. By the time he was eight, you wouldn’t know he had a problem when you saw him walk.

The children in our neighborhood ran around as most children do during play, and Joey would jump right in and run and play, too. We never told him that he probably wouldn’t be able to run as well as the other children. So he didn’t know.

In seventh grade he decided to go out for the cross-country team. Every day he trained with the team. He worked harder and ran more than any of the others - perhaps he sensed that the abilities that seemed to come naturally to so many others did not come naturally to him. Although the entire team runs, only the top seven runners have the potential to score points for the school. We didn’t tell him he probably would never make the team, so he didn’t know.

He continued to run four to five miles a day, every day - even the day he had a 103-degree fever. I was worried, so I went to look for him after school. I found him running all alone. I asked him how he felt. "Okay," he said. He had two more miles to go. The sweat ran down his face and his eyes were glassy from his fever. Yet he looked straight ahead and kept running. We never told him he couldn’t run four miles with a 103-degree fever. So he didn’t know.

Two weeks later, the names of the team runners were called. Joey was number six on the list. Joey had made the team. He was in seventh grade - the other six team members were all eighth-graders. We never told him he shouldn’t expect to make the team. We never told him he couldn’t do it. We never told him he couldn’t do it...so he didn’t know. He just did it.

我的兒子瓊尼降生時，他的雙腳向上彎彎著，醫生向我們保證說經過治療，小瓊尼可以像常人一樣走路，但像常人一樣跑步的可能性則微乎其微。瓊尼3歲之前一直在接受治療，和支架、石膏模子打交道。七八歲的時候，他走路的樣子已讓人看不出他的腿有過毛病。

鄰居的小孩子們做游戲的時候總是跑過來跑過去。毫無疑問小瓊尼看到他們玩就會馬上加進去跑啊鬧的。我們從不告訴他不能像別的孩子那樣跑，我們從不說他和別的孩子不一樣。因為我們不對他說，所以他不知道。

七年級的時候，瓊尼決定參加跑步橫穿全美的比賽。每天他和大伙一塊訓練。也許是意識到自己先天不如別人，他訓練得比任何人都刻苦。訓練隊的前7名選手可以參加最后比賽，為學校拿分。我們沒有告訴瓊尼;也許會落空，所以他不知道。

他堅持每天跑4~5英里。我永遠不會忘記有一次，他發著高燒，但仍堅持訓練。我為他擔心，于是去學校看他，發現他正在一個人沿著長長的林蔭道跑步呢。我問他感覺怎么樣，"很好。"他說。還剩下最后兩英里。他滿臉是汗，眼睛因為發燒失去了光彩。然而他目不斜視，堅持著跑下來。我們從沒有告訴他不能發著高燒去跑4英里的路，我們從沒有這樣對他說，所以他不知道。

兩個星期后，在決賽前的3天，長跑隊的名次被確定下來。瓊尼是第六名，他成功了。他才是個七年級生，而其余的人都是八年級生。我們從沒有告訴他不要去期望入選，我們從沒有對他說他不會成功。是的，從沒說起過……所以他不知道，但他卻做到了!