Being the child of a billionaire doesn´t guarantee success, just as being born in Kenya is not an augury of being the best runner, nor having musical talent means you are virtuous, because, precisely, virtuous is defined as that who exercises in means to grow in virtue or work. There are no instructions, coincidences or secrets, for being great, is necessary to work on whatever one does right.
“Only the disciplined ones are free in life.” wrote Eliud Kipchoge in his twitter account before breaking the world record in Berlin, the same man who, as a child, rode his bicycle from the farm he grew up in to the town of Kapsabet where he sold milk, bottled by himself, to help out his family. Discipline is suckled, just like a baby suckles milk from her mother’s breast.
It’s true, Eluid was born in Kenya, but it was his determination, not the place he was born in or his genes what made him the fastest 42-kilometer marathon runner in history. Every day he ran three kilometers to get to school on time. Perhaps ever since he fantasized about breaking his own record, because imagination is also needed to succeed in what you love. Just ask J.K. Rowling.
Joanne Rowling changed her name into J.K. Rowling (J for Joanne and K after her grandmother, Kathleen) because she was afraid her book wouldn´t sell if the public knew she was a woman. However, she not only shattered every selling-book record but she also marked a generation that now believes in the magic of common people like her, who, after a major depression, instead of disappearing, chose to move on becoming one of the most admired women on earth. After years of living out of welfare, one morning, as if by illusionism, she appeared at the top of the list of Fortune magazine as the richest woman in the UK.
Through her writing, the British author freed children, youngsters, adults and the elderly from the prison of “reality”, she lead a good portion of humanity into a world of magic, and invited us to fight our own Dementors, those dark creatures we can become if we don’t use our powers, just as we saw it on the big screen thanks to Alfonso Cuarón, another one of those record-breaking people, the bad-ass Mexican, along with Guillermo del Toro. Monsters!
J.K. Rowling walked on the moon, the opaque celestial body that glows at night or pretends to do so, the same moon that Iker Casillas had recently questioned if it was ever stepped on by Neil Armstrong and company, he says it might have been a truculent invention, pure fiction. But what does it mattersincehe makes pure trickery to stop those cannon balls with gloves. The iconic keeper—who a couple of months ago became the first player to play in 20 Champions League Seasons—, obtained the World Cup in South Africa on 2010, he also overcame the idea that boys don´t cry, specially not out of happiness and in public, besides, he broke the media protocols, when he kissed on the mouth the news reporter who was interviewing him, live, before a truly surprised large audience.
However, Iker’s greatest record has been to overcome the pain and distaste he experienced after his beloved Club, whose goal bravely defended for years, threw him out the back door. He left serene, dignified, like a real Cerberus, like a heroic guardian with his head held high in an honorable way.
His work was translated into Portuguese and who knows into how many other languages. The privileged son of the Madrid municipality of Móstoles, at 37-years-old, is still an inspiration for thousands of kids who emulate him wearing the FC Porto jersey or jerseys from different clubs, because those earthy-astronauts who are breaking records with their hearts, mark the soul of people in spite of the team they´re rooting for.
It was 19:45pm on May 15thin the year 2002, Real Madrid was playing the Champions League against Bayer Leverkusen at the Hampden Park in Glasgow, Scotland. In those days I was living in Madrid and I walked out the door to join the celebration, “the Galacticos” had won the title 2 to 1 with spectacular saves from Casillas. I bring this up because as I was writing these lines about Guiness records personalities, I´ve come to notice that all these stories are linked one way or another and at the end we are all one constellation:
From the celebration on the Paseo de la Castellana I randomly ended up in the mythical concert hall at Princesa Street: the Sala Arena. When I walked in the hall, the band had already started playing and it´s head vocalist and leader announced the next song: “El hombre del espacio interior” (The man of the inner space). That’s how I met “La Habitación Roja”. Three months later, I edited and launched their brand new album in México.
Although they still don’t fill out big stadiums on their own, La Habitación Roja are real stars and, the true rock star of this record-breaking people story, is their captain and singer Jorge Martí Aguas, a man who has a double life: the one on the stage and the backstage life; during winter time, he works as a nurse on the nightshift at a nursing home for terminal patients who suffer from Alzheimer and dementia. Heroes also pay mortgage.
The sanatorium is located on a small town in Norway, where he lives with his wife and two daughters when he is not touring in Spain or Mexico. Of course it would be easier if he lived and worked in Spain near the band and the music festivals, but the adult life can be complicated and sometimes there is no option but to find ways to adapt to the circumstances with a half-smile on your face. But that is a different story that you´ll soon be able to see in the documentary: “In the Middle of Norway”, the story of an authentic Harry Potter, a flesh and blood magical guy.
I am not sure if Jorge will be as famous as Kipchoge, Rowling or Casillas, however he already is a record-breaker in terms of breaking boundaries and borders, and has set indelible marks of love amongst his people, because, in the end, that is what will be recorded in History, just as every time a man sets foot on the moon or gets to Venus in a taxi.
[A couple of weeks ago, just after the film was shown in a music-movie festival in Barcelona, Jorge was surprisingly recognized with Spain’s Nursing Award]
Twitter: F.J. Koloffon FB: /FJKoloffon Contact: fjkoloffon@fjkoloffon.com Newspaper column published inEl Universal.
