Never Give Up!

<p>One of the most powerful weapons known to man is not a bomb, not associated with germ or chemical warfare, it’s not even a military device; and yet, it has the power to build up or destroy, to encourage or defeat, and to be used for good or evil. The weapon I’m taking about is the power of speech.</p> <p>Down through the ages, people everywhere, from every country, race, color, or creed, have been affected either positively or negatively by its strength, and it continues to affect us all today in one way or another.</p> <p>Great speeches have been known to motivate, encourage, educate, enlighten, and either draw us together or tear us apart. Speeches like Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address, Franklin D. Roosevelt’s “Fear Speech” to our nation on the verge of war, or Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech to a country torn by civil and racial unrest…each one inspired, motivated, and challenged the listener to look beyond personal benefit and interest and seek the greater good.</p> <p>But of all the speeches I’ve ever <i>personally</i> heard that moved me the most was by Jim Valvano, best known for his successful coaching career at <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NC_State_Wolfpack_men%27s_basketball" target="_blank">North Carolina State University</a>, where his team won the NCAA Division I Men’s National Basketball Championship in 1983 against improbable odds over the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1982%E2%80%9383_Houston_Cougars_men%27s_basketball_team" target="_blank">Houston Cougars</a>. I can still see him running across the basketball court when the buzzer-beating tap-in went in, hair and coattail flying, with his signature grin from ear-to-ear.</p> <p>And I vividly remember him delivering an incredibly moving and inspirational speech 10 years later at the 1993 ESPN <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ESPY_Award" target="_blank">ESPY Awards</a> while terminally ill with cancer. He shared many things from his heart that night, but one of the most memorable was when Jim Valvano, lov