[S I M T A N]

I believe in doing things because they satisfy me, not because I want to challenge people. While I can run no where near SRY, I used to be a fitness enthusiast and could at least run 8:40 as my best timing. I do a couple of other things as well, which I don't think SRY can do, but I don't think there could be any comparison. 

Each of us is unique, and each can do things that others cannot. People whose ego get too big are childish, so are people who throw sarcastic remarks. 

In the whole scheme of things, all of us are very small and insignificant. These achievements don't mean anything. We live lives to fulfil our own destiny.

Yeah, that's the spirit - taking on a challenge for personal gratification instead of daring others to take the challenge out of a sense of superiority, which is an arrogant way of behaving. That reminds me of a challenging situation I ran into many years ago. I'll chronicle the events that led to the challenge.

You see I'm a stair-climber rather than a lift user. Naturally I'll want to pound up and down the stairs at every opportunity to get more exercise. Whenever I visit my grandparents who live on the highest floor of a 17-story apartment building, I'll run up the flights of stairs to their flat on the 17th floor and jog down after leaving.

One day, after leaving their flat to buy some snack food for them, I returned using the staircase, as I'm wont to do. They then voiced concern about the health hazard of me over-exerting myself and possibly putting too much strain on my vital organs, esp my heart and lungs, which could be a real risk. They added that I wasn't getting any younger and hoped I'd start using the lift which they said was faster and much less taxing than pounding up the stairs.

Their words - that the lift was faster than me - set me to wondering if I could outrun the lift. Their words were still ringing in my ears when I got home. I toyed with the idea of racing with the lift in a mini-vertical marathon race to the topmost floor. I then decided to embark on a regimen of cardiovascular workouts to build up my speed, stamina and endurance with the aim of trying to beat the lift. After undergoing 2 weeks of training, which included dry runs up the flights of stairs to the 17th floor, I was raring to go.

On race day, my grandparents, with an incredulous look, tried to dissuade me from pulling this "dangerous stunt," but I wouldn't budge. As they were about to enter the lift on the ground floor with no other lift passengers, I made a dash for the stairwell and raced up the stairs. They rode the elevator to the topmost floor without stopping. When the lift door opened on the 17th floor, they could hardly believe their eyes when they saw me facing them, puffing and panting like carzy from sprinting. I had beaten the lift by mere seconds!

I derived what you call " self-satisfaction" from rising to a low-key challenge but it had the old folks worried sick!