There's a problem I have with this kind of narrative, and allow me to illustrate it through a somewhat recent baseball tale: at the all-star game home run derby, the finalists were an unassuming pair of hitters considering the field of competition: Texas' Josh Hamilton and my personal favorite, Justin Morneau. Leading into the derby, people were absolutely in love with Hamilton, a reformed trainwreck of a human being (typical story: drugs, alcohol, found Jesus) who had started on a meteoric rise in his play. All throughout the derby, people were happily retelling the "amazing turnaround" of Hamilton's life with a wishful tenor that bordered on sprechgesang. But what happened? He tired himself out in the first rounds of competition which ultimately resulted in a loss to the consistent Morneau in the final round. Tortoise beats the hare. Again.
Of course this was not trumpeted as a magnificent feat, even though Morneau was far from the most likely contender to win the derby. The fact is, his story just isn't that interesting; he's been a consistent baseball player, never endangered his career or family with risky behaviors. He's just a damn nice guy and a fine player who puts his head down and does the best he can every day.
I want to hear the story of the unassuming premed who just worked hard. Not someone who beat personal daemons. Not someone who didn't need to sweat acceptance because they had a 4.0/45. These are exceptions, and if you're not part of that exception, it's just not germane. Let's hear a tortoise's victory story: an unremarkable story of persistence and perseverance.
As a hopeful tortoise myself, I'll be happy to write it for you if it happens to me.
