John F Kennedy - Martin Luther King - William Shakespeare - Virgil - Thomas Carlyle - Hands on a Hard Body 1997 - Where Dreams Go To Die: Garry Robbins and the Barkley Marathons 2017 - They Shoot Horses Don’t They 1969 - Mandy TV - Winston Churchill - Cesar Chavez -
A man may die, nations may rise and fall, but an idea lives on. Ideas have endurance without death. John F Kennedy, February 1963
We shall match your capacity to inflict suffering with our capacity to endure suffering. We shall meet your physical force with soul force. Do to us what you will, and we shall continue to love you. We cannot in all good conscience obey your unjust laws, because noncooperation with evil is as much a moral obligation as is cooperation with good. Throw us in jail, and we shall still love you. Bomb our homes and threaten our children, and we shall still love you. Send your hooded perpetrators of violence into our community at the midnight hour and beat us and leave us half dead, and we shall still love you. But be ye assured that we will wear you down by our capacity to suffer. Martin Luther King, essay Loving Your Enemies
Men must endure
Their going hence even as their coming hither. William Shakespeare, The History of King Lear V ii 9-10, Edgar
Every calamity is to be overcome by endurance. Virgil
Endurance is patience concentrated. Thomas Carlyle
It’s a contest they say of stamina but it’s who can maintain their sanity the longest. Hands on a Hard Body, 1997
These people stand beside the truck with their hand on it and the last one to take their hand off wins the truck. ibid.
The mosquitoes started biting me. ibid.
Mystical kind of experience. ibid.
I’m going to be here till I pass out. ibid.
I know the Lord was giving her the strength during that time. ibid.
He was hearing voices or something. ibid.
It’s going to go down to whoever loses their mind. ibid.
What are the Barkley marathons? Where dreams go to die. Where Dreams Go To Die: Gary Robbins and the Barkley Marathons, opening sequence, 2017
5 loops each summer between 20 and 30 miles climbing we over 60,000 feet … 60 hours to complete the entire thing … Only 15 have ever finished the Barkley marathons. ibid.
‘True success is not the absence of failure. It is the refusal to surrender.’ ibid. Lazarus Lake, Barkley race director
In 2016 I was offered the opportunity of a lifetime: I had been given special permission to document my dear friend Gary Robbins’ dream of attempting the Barkley marathons. ibid.
The Barkley is the ultimate challenge both physically and mentally. ibid.
‘I’m defeated, frustrated, and I was so close.’ ibid. Gary
Yeah. Thirty-one. What do I need? A note from my mother. They Shoot Horses Don’t They? 1969 starring Jane Fonda & Michael Sarrazin & Susannah York & Gig Young & Red Buttons & Bonnie Bedelia & Bruce Dern & Allyn Ann McLerie & Robert Fields & Michael Conrad et al, director Sydney Pollack, opening scene
Ya you, come here. What’s your name, cowboy? You got a partner, ain’t ya? ibid. organiser
Welcome to the dance of destiny, ladies and gentlemen. ibid. announcer
You in movies too? ibid. her to him
Hot dogs. Hot dogs. Get your hot dogs. ibid. seller
There are thirty-two separate pieces of shrapnel still embedded in Harry’s body. Thirty-two ... I really mean that sincerely, folks, from the bottom of my heart. ibid. dude in tux
Nature’s little miracle – Christ! What’s the use of having a kid unless you’ve got enough dough to take care of it. You intend to keep it? Yeah, why not drop another sucker in this mess? ibid. her to pregnant contestant
You know the rules – no fights on the floor. ibid. bouncer
Lola: What are you reading?
Mandy: The Guinness Book of Records. Mandy II: Mandy Bloody Blower, at the nailbar
These people are gods: they’ve done something with their lives … I’m not a record breaker. But I am a line-dancer though. I’m going to win the local line-dancing endurance competition. Practising? I’ve done twenty-two hours straight through. I’ve got a secret … [inaudible] … nappies … ibid.
Mandy: I heard you’d gone to the Peak District tot start a new life. I heard you’d got a hot-tub.
Susan Blower: I did. But it’s all gone to shit … It’s all gone. I want to make it up to you. ibid.
Lola: Step 1: Gaze into the eyes of the voodoo head; Step 2: Name your foe; Step 3: Tell the head what you want – and you must be specific.
Mandy: I want to be the last one standing at the local line-dancing endurance competition. ibid. Lola buys voodoo head over internet
Announcer: The prize will go to the last line-dancer standing. And remember, you must keep your thumbs in your belt-loops at all times. Otherwise you are DISQUALIFIED! OK, good luck everyone. Positions please. And here we go. ibid.
… [20 seconds into competition Mandy staggers] … Lola! Water! ibid.
Loo roll! Loo roll! ibid. Mandy & Susan remain
Announcer: Susan Blower wins the award. God rest her soul. ibid. Susan crushed by giant glitterball with voodoo-head mistakenly brought into hall and onlooking from table
You have only to endure to conquer. Winston Churchill, Guildhall 4th September 1914
We draw our strength from the very despair in which we have been forced to live. We shall endure. Cesar Chavez