Why Can't They Last?

There are some stories I don't ever want to end.  I felt that way about Lord of the Rings.  I felt that way about A Severe Mercy and Seabiscuit.  I almost felt that way about the Twilight Saga until one of the characters started drinking blood to keep her half-vampire baby alive in her womb.  In fact, I get rather annoyed when some of my favorite stories end.  There's just such a sense of let-down.  I feel this sense of dread as I near the final page because I know it's all about to be over and I can't do a thing about it.  Most of the stories that I feel this way about are the ones that are so epic in nature - the ones that captive both the mind and the heart, the ones that elevate you beyond where you presently are.

I just put down Secretariat:  The Making of a Champion  by William Nack and I nearly wanted to cry when I finished it because it's just such a beautiful and inspiring story and I was so sad it came to a close.  I know, I know.  It's just a horse.  I get it.  Just like the Michigan-Ohio State game is just another football game and Mother Theresa is just another woman.  But to anybody who watches that kind of history unfold knows it's never just another horse race and it's never just another horse.  I wanted to stand up and cheer just reading the darn thing.  I wanted to yell along with everyone else when Secretariat set blistering records in each of his Triple Crown races.  I mean, good grief, the horse ran each eighth of the Kentucky Derby successively faster and faster, which is just mind boggling because the times should get successively slower, not faster.  He won the Belmont by a stunning 31 lengths.  The horse was a maniac. 

When he died - 21 years ago tomorrow - they did an autopsy on him and found that his heart was twice as big as a normal thoroughbred, which meant he could pump far more oxygen into his bloodstream, giving him a competitive edge that other breeders could only dream of developing in their horses.  His offspring weren't much to brag about, with only a few garnering serious accolades - none would come close to accomplishing what their daddy had. 

But I guess the really great stories have to come to an end sometime.  At least until another comes along.



"Do you give the horse his strength or clothe his neck with a flowing mane?  Do you make him leap like a locust, striking terror with his proud snorting? He paws fiercely, rejoicing in his strength, and charges into the fray. He laughs at fear, afraid of nothing; he does not shy away from the sword. The quiver rattles against his side, along with the flashing spear and lance. In frenzied excitement he eats up the ground; he cannot stand still when the trumpet sounds. At the blast of the trumpet he snorts, 'Aha!'  He catches the scent of battle from afar, the shout of commanders and the battle cry."
- portion of Job 39