Simplicity incarnate37
The first woman in our Oregon 30-Kilometre Race was the well-known runner Martha Cooksey. She had come to our meeting the previous day to meditate with us, and she had been very, very moved.When she was on her thirteenth or fourteenth mile, the other women runners were far behind her. I was in the car, as I had run only seven miles, and I waved to her. She was so delighted to see me waving from the car.
Then, when I gave her the prize, there was only one foot between her existence and my existence, but she grabbed my left elbow and whispered to me, “I enjoyed it. I enjoyed the race very much! “ She is so short, but still she bowed down. Of all the women runners I have met, she has the most simplicity. She is very simple, very cheerful and very kind-hearted. If people are champion runners, very often there is something in them which you call pride; or they have a certain way of expressing themselves because they are champions. But in Martha Cooksey’s case, she is absolutely simplicity incarnate.
RB 221. 19 October 1980↩
