Believing in Disbelief

Summer finally released its death grip from around Mississippi’s throat.  A cool breeze blew across the north Mississippi countryside as the sun and moon exchanged pleasantries. It was a celestial shift change.  Pink hues painted the sky’s eastern black canvas. A lone figure ran beneath the pre-dawn sky and across the blackened field.

Morning had arrived.  The cold air burning in his lungs was his cup of coffee.  While most folks were crawling out of bed, Cole was running.  He always was running.  Cole never slowed down.

He remembered the look in his crazed high school coach’s face. Spit flew from the screaming man’s mouth has he shouted in Cole’s face. “YOU’LL NEVER AMOUNT TO ANYTHING!!!”  Like iron being forged into steel, the coach’s taunts had strengthened his backbone.  “BS,” he thought, “I’ll show you.”  Coach Mike Loafer was the first person Cole proved wrong.   And he would not be the last.

Cole Collins was a man of destiny.

Coming from a family of modest means, Cole entered the National Guard to get money to pay for college.  He was determined to be the first person in his family to earn a degree. In the desert of Iraq, his convoy had been blown up by an IED.  While most men would have run away, Cole ran into the flames of his destroyed vehicle.  He had rescued two fellow soldiers.  Cole wore the scars as proudly as the medal he received for that incredible act of bravery.

He looked down at the crinkled skin on his arm as he ran.  Like his skin, the memories of war burned.

Iraq and a later tour in Afghanistan had filled his head with a lifetime of horrible images.  Last night had been a particularly bad night.  Nightmares had kept him awake until it was time to run.  Now he was trying to put the images to bed.  The sight of burned friends.  Of headless enemies.  Time in combat sucked away his ability to suffer fools gladly.  He no longer had  time for BS and those who practiced it.  Kissing your mortality on the mouth would do that to a man.  But it had focused him. He was like light. Unfocused it could warm you. Focused it could cut steel. An owl hooted off in the distant trees, bringing his mind back to Mississippi.

He continued his run.  Ten miles down, one to go.  He had an hour until he had to get to work cutting trees.  Cole had come back from war and found the best job he could at the time. But it was a job. Cole honored work.  And then he had saved every penny he had made.  Because Cole Collins had bigger plans. He was the kind of man who not only dreamed when he was asleep. He also dreamed glorious dreams when he was awake.

His cell phone went off.  Cole fumbled around in his pocket and pulled to his ear.  “‘ello?”

“Mr. Collins?” the female voice had a Boston accent.

“Yes ma’am.” Cole was southern and trained to say yes sir and no sir.

“This is Rita Garbawoski at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. We mailed a letter to you also, but I wanted you to know that you’ve been accepted.  Congratulations. And welcome to MIT.

And at that moment, Cole Collins stopped running. He said, “Thank you,” and hung up the phone.

Cole Collins, a poor child born in rural Mississippi, graduated from MIT and went on to become the owner of a software company. He later sold it and invested the money into his old home state.  His leadership, vision and dedication changed the lives of several young men and women from his hometown.  All because he was once told he couldn’t do something.

He rose to the dare. He proved his critics wrong.

In his home’s study in Oxford, Mississippi, Cole sat down behind a desk and wrote a note to the man who had shaped his life:

“Dear Coach,

Thank you for not believing me. No, I’m not being sarcastic.  I honestly appreciate your doubt, your disbelief and your lack of faith in me. Because it made me want to prove you wrong. It strengthened who I am.  Like a piece coal under pressure, I came out a diamond.  You lit a fire in me that could not be extinguished.  Thank you for being wrong. I’m glad I didn’t believe in your disbelief.”

Cole folded the paper and put it in the envelope.

He knew that those who lacked faith in your abilities could be your most powerful motivators.

And with that Cole Collins smiled and began to dream once again.