Know How to Take a Punch | Rabbi Bentzion Shafier

When I was a young man learning in Yeshiva, I was invited to join a very exclusive Mussar Chabura. A Mussar Chabura is a group of fellows, usually the same age. One produces a Chiddush, says something, it might be a Chazal, it might be a Gemara. I was invited to a very serious group. The first week, someone said a Daas Zekeinim. Next week, someone said a Rashi on Chumash. Third week, it was my turn to present. I walked into the room, I was not carrying a Chumash, not carrying a Mussar Sefer. I walked in carrying a picture sportsbook. But I got some pretty serious looks when I put the book down on the table and then I opened to the center section. And there you saw Muhammad Ali, holding up the heavyweight championship belt. Those looks turned pretty dirty when they said, Shafier, what do you want? I said: Uh-uh, tell me what you see. All right, we get it. Frazier had been the world champion. Ali just won the fight. What do you want? I said: Exactly. When you look at that picture, what do you see? You see glory. You see victory. You don't see that the world heavyweight champion got so beat up in that fight that they brought him straight to the hospital. For 21 days, he couldn't get out of his hospital bed. But that's not the part you read about in the sports section. That's not the part you hear. You hear about a victory, you hear about his glory, but you don't hear that the world champion got so beat up, that for three weeks, he couldn't get out of bed. What I wanted to share with my friends that day is The key to success is not talent. The key to success is not ability, not even determination. It's knowing how to take a punch. Because I don't care how good you are, I don't care how talented you are. You're going to set lofty goals. Some you'll hit, some you won't. But if you're not able to get hit, fall to the canvas and pick yourself back up, you'll never succeed in life. Find me a human being who succeeded in any endeavor in life, I guarantee they knew how to get knocked down and get back in that game, time after time after time. Because success in any endeavor in life, certainly in Avodas Hashem, requires knowing how to succeed. Knowing how to succeed means knowing how to take a punch, knowing how to get knocked down, and knowing how to get back in the fight, time after time after time.