Karoly Takacs - The only hand

"Why me?". A question, a lot of people (including myself) ask, during times of adversity.

Motivational speaker, Les Brown answers it in the best way, "If not you, who? Do you have some email addresses, mobile no's?".

When an ex-army Indian officer Naveen Gulia was asked to comment on the same topic, he answered, "It's a stupid question to ask 'Why me', instead say 'Choose me'".

Is it really that easy to say "Choose Me"?

There is nothing easy in life. It's a hard grind when odds are stacked against you. Although reading on real-life inspirational stories helps, implementing the lessons learned are a different ball game altogether. Whenever I am faced with a challenging or stressful situation, my minuscule brain forgets all these real-life stories and accepts "PANIC" as the real super-hero (or super-women…pun intended).

As an effort to build mental strength, I came up with an idea of writing down my views on inspirational real-life stories. Writing is an extremely therapeutic exercise and I often use it to recover from the trauma of losing the "Australian Lotto".

Karoly Takacs

I have decided to write about two times Hungarian Olympic Gold medalist Karoly Takacs. Takács was born in Budapest and joined the Hungarian Army. He was a renowned world-class pistol shooter but was denied to compete in 1936 Olympic on the grounds, he was a sergeant and only commissioned officers were allowed to compete.

Although the prohibition was lifted, later on, destiny was adamant in testing Takacs's patience. During army training before the 1940 Olympics, his right hand was injured badly after a faulty grenade exploded.

Takacs decided not to waste his time on "Why me?" but started training with his left hand in secrecy. He was seen competing again at the "Hungarian national pistol shooting championship 1939" and to everyone's surprise, he won the championship by a massive margin.

Life has a funny way of biting you even on the best of days and Takacs's journey was no different. The Olympic Games scheduled for 1940 and 1944 were canceled due to the Second World War, but that didn't stop Takács. He kept practicing.

WikipediaAt the age of 38, when his competitors had the advantage of age and better reflexes, Takacs shocked the world by winning the gold medal at the 1948 Summer Olympics in London, beating his rival, Argentine Carlos Enrique Díaz Sáenz Valiente.

At the age of 42, Takacs went on to win his second gold medal at the 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki. When everyone was shooting with the best hand, Takacs was shooting with his only hand.

Although mostly associated with the rapid-fire pistol, Takács also won a bronze medal at the 1958 ISSF World Shooting Championships in 25 meters center-fire pistol. He also won 35 Hungarian national shooting championships.

Takacs was passionate about shooting and situations didn't matter to him. Some skeptics might question: What if Takacs lost both his hands? Well, destiny has a plan for everyone. If we just keep looking, we will find our path.

Live your life, ladies and gentlemen. Don't question your circumstances, instead, work hard towards your goals with whatever resources you have. No one is perfect because one does not have to be, to achieve anything. Life is a gift and achieving our goals with our imperfection is what brings real happiness.

I would like to end this article with a quote from my favorite speaker Les Brown:

“If you're not willing to risk you cannot grow, and if you cannot grow you cannot become your best, and if you cannot become your best, you cannot be happy.”

Thanks

Tarun