Stories of “comebacks” abound. We love them. Someone, down and out, rises like a phoenix from the ashes of injury, rejection, addiction, accident, disease, disorder, or disaster. Up, down, back up. The comeback can be thought of as a courageous and persistent journey through unpredictable and intersecting passageways.
Comebacks, by their very nature, imply an “up” phase. While Mario Lemieux, star of the Pittsburgh Penguins, was on top the world of professional hockey, he was afflicted with Hodgkin’s disease, but he became a “comeback kid” by returning to the team after radiation treatments and by winning the individual scoring championship. Comeback Kid, a Winnipeg punk band, took its name from a newspaper story about Lemieux’s successful return to the game. The group has a song called “Wake the Dead” that is about not losing hope and about shaking off regrets.
Comeback kid, the term has been used for many return-to-success stories. Joe Montana, football star, was called “Comeback Joe” for his ability to rally his team to victory. Bill Clinton, President, labeled himself “comeback kid.” Ulysses S. Grant, Mexican War hero, disillusioned, possibly alcoholic, became Captain Grant at remote Fort Humboldt, and, seeing no future in the military, left the army in 1854. Over the ensuing half dozen years, he failed at numerous business ventures, and then, desperate for a sustaining job, private citizen Grant worked for his father. Through a series of passageways foreshadowing the Winnipeg band’s music, Grant, in the death of obscurity, woke. Death brought him back to life, that is, war brought him back, first as an organizer of a volunteer troop from Galena, and then as commanding officer of the Twenty-first Illinois Volunteer Infantry. You know the rest: Brigadier General Grant in 1861, Major General Grant in 1862, and then, another setback in his life. Major General Halleck, his immediate superior, gave him a desk job in April after Grant’s forces suffered heavy casualties at Shiloh. Back in command of forces (the Army of the Tennessee) by October, General Grant took Vicksburg. In 1863 Lincoln appointed Grant as commander of the Military Division of the Mississippi (the armies of the Cumberland, the Ohio, and the Tennessee—named for the rivers). Next came a third star, and Grant became the general in chief of the northern armies, and, as everyone knows—well, not everyone—eventually led the North to victory. On March 4, 1869, President Grant was sworn into office. From disillusioned marginal alcoholic, business failure, and demoted soldier to President: Now that’s a comeback.
Think you’re done? Think your efforts lead to nowhere? Think you are at a dead end? Wake yourself up to the many intersections where new passageways lead to…
Comebacks, by their very nature, imply an “up” phase. While Mario Lemieux, star of the Pittsburgh Penguins, was on top the world of professional hockey, he was afflicted with Hodgkin’s disease, but he became a “comeback kid” by returning to the team after radiation treatments and by winning the individual scoring championship. Comeback Kid, a Winnipeg punk band, took its name from a newspaper story about Lemieux’s successful return to the game. The group has a song called “Wake the Dead” that is about not losing hope and about shaking off regrets.
Comeback kid, the term has been used for many return-to-success stories. Joe Montana, football star, was called “Comeback Joe” for his ability to rally his team to victory. Bill Clinton, President, labeled himself “comeback kid.” Ulysses S. Grant, Mexican War hero, disillusioned, possibly alcoholic, became Captain Grant at remote Fort Humboldt, and, seeing no future in the military, left the army in 1854. Over the ensuing half dozen years, he failed at numerous business ventures, and then, desperate for a sustaining job, private citizen Grant worked for his father. Through a series of passageways foreshadowing the Winnipeg band’s music, Grant, in the death of obscurity, woke. Death brought him back to life, that is, war brought him back, first as an organizer of a volunteer troop from Galena, and then as commanding officer of the Twenty-first Illinois Volunteer Infantry. You know the rest: Brigadier General Grant in 1861, Major General Grant in 1862, and then, another setback in his life. Major General Halleck, his immediate superior, gave him a desk job in April after Grant’s forces suffered heavy casualties at Shiloh. Back in command of forces (the Army of the Tennessee) by October, General Grant took Vicksburg. In 1863 Lincoln appointed Grant as commander of the Military Division of the Mississippi (the armies of the Cumberland, the Ohio, and the Tennessee—named for the rivers). Next came a third star, and Grant became the general in chief of the northern armies, and, as everyone knows—well, not everyone—eventually led the North to victory. On March 4, 1869, President Grant was sworn into office. From disillusioned marginal alcoholic, business failure, and demoted soldier to President: Now that’s a comeback.
Think you’re done? Think your efforts lead to nowhere? Think you are at a dead end? Wake yourself up to the many intersections where new passageways lead to…
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