Page 18 - Sharp Winter 2023

18
WINTER 2023
SHARPMAGAZINE.COM
LETTER
THE LAST DANCE
I ’VE RECENTLY BEEN TRAINING FOR A COMPETITION AT ACADEMY OF LIONS, my gym in downtown Toronto. It’s not an especially serious event — more like a low-stakes exhibition match among friends. Teams of four will test their weightlifting and gymnastics skills over the course of a Saturday afternoon, and
the winners will come away with a trophy and the satisfaction of having done a good job. It’s meant to be a fun way to celebrate the community and share in the excitement of fitness.
But I am taking it seriously. Very seriously. I am a competitive person by na- ture, and any kind of formal challenge — bar trivia night, poker game, showdown at the pool table — sends me into a fit of cutthroat striving. For me, though, the thrill of competition isn’t just about winning or losing. It’s about the chance to demonstrate a commitment to excellence that goes beyond the ordinary. As corny as it sounds, it’s about doing the thing that your parents and teachers always told you about: trying your best.
That level of effort manifests in different ways. For some, it looks like reinvention, as in the story of the actor Brendan Fraser, profiled in these pages — once ridiculed as a Hollywood has-been, he’s emerged as an unlikely frontrunner for the Academy Award for Best Actor. For Rian Johnson, this month’s Man Worth Listening To, it has meant absorbing the hard lessons of a divisive Star Wars sequel and making them the basis of his daring new Knives Out sequel Glass Onion. As for cover star John Legend, you would be hard-pressed to find an industry elder statesman who works harder. Most would simply bask in the glory. Legend refuses to rest.
Winning, of course, is a fine reward. Winning feels good. But winning is a possible side effect of working hard — it’s not the only purpose of doing it. “Obsessing about winning is a loser’s game,” Phil Jackson, long-time coach of Michael Jordan’s Chicago Bulls, wrote after leading that team to six championships. I doubt anyone knows more about the importance of effort and what it can accomplish, but he understood how little it achieved to fixate on the result. “The most we can hope for is to create the best possible conditions for success, then let go of the outcome,” he wrote. “The ride is a lot more fun that way.”
I’m enjoying the ride. Wish me luck.
— CALUM MARSH
PHOTOGRAPHY BY LUIS MORA (KZM). SUIT AND SHIRT BY BOSS
Managing Editor