吃醋

I watched Dream Weavers, a documentary about preparations for the Beijing 2008 Summer Olympics today.

One of the young girls on the gymnastics team reminded the interviewer that "bitterness comes before sweetness" when she talked about how difficult and tiresome it was to train. (I wish I could remember their exact sayings)

She and the others making their preparations - such as the architects and builders of the birds nest - expended great effort in a relentless striving for perfection with high stakes.

They reminded me that the end goal takes dedication and difficult or unpleasant work in the getting there. That is the necessary exchange. It is not enough to endure the days leading up to the Olympics - one must actively work and invest to avoid failure.

If the builders had merely done their job to get it done, the Bird's Nest may have collapsed when they took away the supports. But because of extensive preparation and testing, before rigorous precision and demanding execution of the building tasks, the creation stood and succeeded as the centerpiece of the Olympic structures.

They were willing and able to follow through with making the exchange.

From my brother's blag:
"
Human kind cannot gain anything without first giving something in return. To obtain, something of equal value must be lost. That is alchemy's first law of equivalent exchange.
-Full Metal Alchemist
It is high time I begin exchanging and work to learn.
"