Ones and Zeros

Computer code, ones and zeros. It is nice, clean, simple. It is predictable. Is it safe? Depends on what the coder is coding into the ones and zeros.  

What have we become with today’s technology age? Artificial Intelligence is supposed to be here to make life easier. More efficient.  

Is it?  

When push comes to shove, and we are tested, we will find out what we are made of. As a coach and athlete, I would call it “the test of fire”. Only the purest elements will survive the test of fire. I associate purity with truth. Truth will survive fire. People love the purity of gold; gold will survive the test of fire. Gold doesn’t survive because of society’s love of it. Besides, our money we love so much will burn as it is not backed by gold anymore. So how much worth does it really have? Only the worth we give it.  

I am a product of the 1970’s. America was on the rise hurdling towards the 1980’s. Hair metal bands and a time of extreme excess. I grew up knowing how to go for it. “Be your best” “Go for the gold or don’t try at all.” I like what happened for me and for my country because of that mentality. We strived for greatness in all we did. This environment promoted greatness within our country. It gave me HOPE. Hope that one day I would find the purest element within myself and when I did, I would find the medal stand with a gold medal wrapped around my neck.  

Was it scary at times? Yes, it was. Were there challenges I failed at? Yes, there were. Were there challenges I somehow succeeded at? YES, THERE WERE.  I found the truest elements in myself during those moments. My failures were there to help me find, dig deeper, the purest elements within me.  

Ones and Zeros: it is safe. It is predictable. It takes the adventure out of life. The times where we are not sure, those are the moments we are most alive. The moments when we were young and didn’t have two nickels to rub together, those are moments we look back on and smile. Why? We found the purest elements inside of our souls and we are still here today to read a blog like this.  

As a coach, I didn’t invest in the athlete. I invested in the person. It is easy to see the athlete. What championship teams are built on: PEOPLE. Ones and zeros will lead you to invest in what everyone can see. The test of fire will cause you to see what type of person stands before you and from that there might be an athlete who will be far greater than the one they are in the present moment.    

It is easy to coach a bunch of athletes. What is hard: to see the person and turn them into something so much more than a goal scorer.  

We all have a soul which runs so much deeper than ones and zeros.  

There are financial investments and there are eternal investments. Decide which investment this world needs, which investment you need to find the best person you were placed on this “team” (Earth) for.  

Marcus Santi 

author of Journey of the Son, available at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Abebooks and Books–A-Million