What is the taste of dedication? Is it…

a) hearty and filling?

b) salted by arduous, back breaking sweat?

c) a bittersweet flavor you struggle to keep down?

d) a combination of all of the above?

e) none of the above because dedication is an abstract concept and this is kind of a stupid question

Well tumblrs, if you picked e, then you were right. But now that I have your attention, let me introduce you to two men with very different stories of dedication.

First off, let us tip our caps to Tim Wakefield, the veteran pitcher of the Boston Red Sox, for achieving his 200^th win. 

The last leg of his journey, between his 199^th and his 200^th win, was long and downhill. With each passing week as the Sox slipped further from a chance at the postseason, it seemed as though Wakefield would never get his milestone win. While it would have been easy to become disheartened in Wakefield’s situation, Wakefield didn’t pass any blame. Like the straight up baller he is, he kept his head up and looked at each game as a potential win.

After the six week chase, Wakefield saw the win against the Blue Jays as not as a personal win, but rather as motivation for the team to move forward. Said Wakefield, “It’s a special thing to get to the postseason. A lot of guys are starting to realize it’s not that easy to get there. It takes a lot of hard work and dedication. Hopefully tonight’s win will give us some momentum going that way.’’ This is a guy who is a true team player, proof that hard work and dedication can pay off and lead to sweet, sweet victory.

Hyder Akbar has a more ambiguous story of dedication. In Act One from episode #445 of “This American Life”, Hyder reflects on how his life has changed since he moved from the Bay area as a teenager to Kabul, Afghanistan when his father set out to work with the government in the Kunar province.

The atmosphere, Hyder once called optimistic and eager with the “excitement of the country moving forward”, has become crestfallen as an adolescent promise to his uncle has become into a lifetime cause: Hyder has set out to fix what The New York Times calls “one of the most corrupt government in the world”.

In Afghani politics, the big players carry big guns, so Hyder has considered creating his own militia. It’s an idea he isn’t too fond of, but sees as necessary if he wants to make progressive change in the future.

His noble dedication has already cost him his fiancé  and his morals; his life could be next. “I will have to be paying a price for what I want to do here. I feel like it’s something much bigger than me…I feel like I can’t just run from it.”

While hard work and positive attitudes are two main ingredients, dedication would merely be a fool’s fantasy without a dash of cold, hard realism. These two examples of dedication beg the question, “To whom are we dedicated?” To a baseball team? To fans? To our country? To ourselves? In the end, I believe the more important question we have to ask ourselves is, “What are we willing to sacrifice?”

Chew on that for now. Until next time, stay hungry, my friends

 Arianna