It’s mid- Summer, and the baseball season is in full swing. From youngsters to major leaguers, the sounds of the ball hitting the bat and calls of “play ball” echo across fields throughout the US.
Baseball has a rich tradition tracing back to the 18th century. During all the years of baseball, sayings, slogans, and baseball slang have been developed. One popular saying is, Three Strikes and Your Out! This baseball saying has morphed into other walks of life, including criminal acts, with the “Three Strikes Law”
Historically, people have always strived to make a better life for themselves and their families. Many, however, have succumbed to the “three strikes and your out” mindset. Not making a sports team, getting into the college of your choice, or receiving that job promotion you coveted, can give some people a “Three Strikes and Your Out” mentality. The truth is, we all have multiple “pitches” thrown at us during our lifetime. The question is, do we leave the bat on our shoulders, or do we swing for the fences? Are we told “Three strikes and your out” and retreat to the end of the dugout, too ? ”Three strikes and you’re not out”! Not by a long shot!
We have all heard stories of people who did not retreat to the end of the dugout after experiencing three strikes and your out. One of my favorites is the chronicle of Abraham Lincoln’s failures. Lincoln experienced many failures including the following:
- Born into poverty
- Seventeen documented failures between 1816 and 1860.
- Failures such as losing eight elections and failing in business twice.
- For one of those business failures, Lincoln had to claim bankruptcy.
With that bankruptcy took seventeen years to pay back his debts.
However, in 1860 Lincoln was elected the president of the United States. How does a gawky, unrefined country lawyer with a history of failure, become the 16th President of the United States? How does that same man deliver one of the greatest speeches of all time, the Gettysburg Address? Simply put, Abraham Lincoln refused to let his failures define him. For Abraham Lincoln, Three Strikes, Did Not Mean Your Out! Three Strikes meant he had to sit in the dugout and prepare for his next chance to take a mighty swing.
