Imagine yourself running. You are in a race to get a particular goal accomplished. You are running and your legs are getting weak and are about to give way. As you get closer, it starts to rain making the whole endeavor even more difficult. You get a splinter of wood in your foot. You cry out in pain but that does not stop you as the finish line seems to be getting closer. You hit a bump on the road and you fall down. You sit for a little while as you try to recompose yourself. You get back up and you go right back to finish the race.
Now you have the prize. You look at the prize and you think back to all the unpleasant encounters along the way. Is it worth the prize? It sure is. You smile and at that moment every negative encounter is forgotten because you have the prize.
It's September, and it's the Sickle Cell Awareness month. Just like previous years, we are creating awareness to Sickle Cell Disease.
The desire to put an end to the Sickle Cell Cycle and the passion that we have to do everything possible to make this happen is the race that we run as Sickle Cell Advocates. There could be lots of push backs, or it might seem as if nobody is listening to what we have to say. Babies are still being born with Sickle Cell Disease. The pain still seems to continue.
I say focus on the prize because when you start to get distracted by the storm around you, you tend to divert your available energy to self pity and unhappiness instead of reaching with all that you have for that winning medal.
The reward of our Sickle Cell race is the eventual finding of a cure for the deadly disease and the ultimate prize of that race is a World free of Sickle Cell Disease. We can make this happen by not relenting in our effort to educate, encourage and continue our fight to put an end to Sickle Cell Disease.