Impressive people

Professor Patrick Henry Winston ’65, SM ’67, PhD ’70

One reason I never left MIT is that a lot of impressive people show up in the course of a year. During the past twelve months, I myself was most impressed by Barack Obama, Will.I.Am, and David Goggins, all who started from nothing in particular and made it to the top of what they do. One showed it is ok to be interested in science and engineering, use words like finite, and be President; another, that is ok to be interested in science and engineering, go to a lecture on AI, and be pop music star; and the third, that you can do what you hate for a good enough cause. If you are on the planet, you have heard of President Obama; and if you are under 30, you have heard of Will.I.Am and the Black Eyed Peas.

Maybe you haven't heard of David Goggins. He is a Navy Seal who runs and bikes to raise money for the Special Operations Warriers Foundation, which among other things, provides college scholarships to the children of soldiers killed in combat. By run, I mean run in races such as the Badwater Ultra Marathon, a race of 135 miles, from Death Valley, 282 feet below sea level and very hot, to Whitney Portals, 8360 feet above sea level, and mercifully cool. By bike, I mean 500 miles, non stop.

Goggins came to MIT with some other Special Operations folks to speak on the subject of mental toughness. All were on a panel put together by Betty Lou McClanahan, a Senior Administrative Assistant in the Department of Chemistry, who in another life teaches the Seals about combat swimming.

I always admire people who can do what I can't, so I was spellbound as Goggins described how and why he transformed himself from a 290 pound tub of a man to a fat-free Seal and ultramarathoner with the motto “Show no weakness.” He could have let sickle cell anemia or atrial septum defect slow him down. Neither has.

Goggins says he will keep going until he has raised a million dollars. I hope he gets to that goal without doing too many more of those races. Mental toughness is a good thing, and you need it to survive MIT, but in the end, we are all just a bag of vulnerable biological stuff with lots of parts that can wear out when overstressed.