Jim Valvano -- Sphoorti - NGO Orphanage Home (Hyderabad), for Orphan and Poor Children

Jim Valvano was the Head coach at North Carolina State University which won the the 1983 NCAA Basketball Tournament. After he knew he was suffering from cancer, he established the Jimmy V Foundation for Cancer Research. The motto of the organization is the immortal line - “Don’t give up, don’t ever give up.”

He made a very short but a memorable speech in 1993 soon after he was diagnosed of cancer. He died a few months later. An excerpt from the speech that continues to inspire people like me even today.

“…….To me, there are three things we all should do every day. We should do this every day of our lives. Number one is laugh. You should laugh every day. Number two is think. You should spend some time in thought. And number three is, you should have your emotions moved to tears, could be happiness or joy. But think about it. If you laugh, you think, and you cry, that’s a full day. That’s a heck of a day. You do that seven days a week, you’re going to have something special…..

……I just got one last thing, I urge all of you, all of you, to enjoy your life, the precious moments you have. To spend each day with some laughter and some thought, to get you’re emotions going. To be enthusiastic every day and [as] Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “Nothing great could be accomplished without enthusiasm” — to keep your dreams alive in spite of problems whatever you have. The ability to be able to work hard for your dreams to come true, to become a reality….

….I remember where I came from. It’s so important to know where you are. And I know where I am right now. How do you go from where you are to where you wanna be? And I think you have to have an enthusiasm for life. You have to have a dream, a goal. And you have to be willing to work for it……

…..I know, I gotta go, I gotta go, and I got one last thing and I said it before, and I’m gonna say it again: Cancer can take away all my physical ability. It cannot touch my mind; it cannot touch my heart; and it cannot touch my soul. And those three things are going to carry on forever……”

Some very important lessons from his speech:
Three things to do to make your day a FULL day
1) Laughter - Enjoy your life, the precious moments you have
2) Thought - Spend some time thinking
3) Emotions - Moved to tears, happiness or joy

Three things to remember always
1) Where you started
2) Where you are
3) Where you want to go (have a dream, a goal and you have to be willing to work for it)

Three things that should remain untouched
1) Your Mind
2) Your Heart
3) Your Soul

and the gist of all he said and meant
“DON’T GIVE UP, DON’T EVER GIVE UP”

Srivyal Vuyyuri
http://www.sphoorti.org
Sphoorti - NGO Orphanage Home (Hyderabad), for Orphan and Poor Children