Fly, Eagles, Fly

Posted on Posted in In the News

Try again. Fail again. Fail better. –Samuel Beckett

Don’t be afraid to fail.—Nick Foles

We see poetry everywhere, and this week—as Philadelphia natives—we found it on the football field, first in the Eagles first-ever Super Bowl win in an unforgettable game against the New England Patriots, and afterward in Eagles quarterback Nick Foles’ victory speech—about failure.

“Failure is part of life,” Foles said. “That’s a part of building character and growing. Without failure, who would you be? I wouldn’t be up here if I hadn’t fallen thousands of times, made mistakes.

“When I listen to people speak and they share their weaknesses, I’m listening,” Foles said.

We’re as guilty as the next guy of using social media as, in Foles’ words, “highlight reels.” We show the smiling faces and happy occasions of our personal lives, and highlight the accomplishments of our business. So today—inspired by Foles, and the Eagles, and underdogs everywhere—we share one of our failures.

Five years ago, we were both looking for work, without success. Resume after resume disappeared into a black hole. I think we scored a total of one actual interview between us. No one, it seemed, wanted to hire middle-aged professionals with too much experience.

Two of us job-hunting at the same time was stressful, to say the least, but out of this frustration, re:Write was born. We took our combined years of writing and reporting skills, added in some courses to learn the business side of things, and turned a handful of freelance writing gigs into a legitimate business. Now we work for ourselves, teaming up with people we like, supporting organizations we believe in.

Margie Smith and Steve Holt at Eagles Super Bowl parade party in Hell's Kitchen, NYC
Celebrating the Eagles’ Super Bowl championship in NYC…

 

 

And we make our own hours. Which means even though we live in New York—which did NOT shut down for the Eagles championship parade—we could still take the day off and watch the celebration on TV.

 

 

 

Fans watch the Eagles Super Bowl parade at a Philly bar in Hell's Kitchen, New York.
…with about a dozen other fans.

 

OK, so there were only 13 people in what’s billed as “the” Philly restaurant in NYC at 2 pm on a Thursday. But the fans and staff were all in green, the parade was on every one of the giant flat-screens, and the cheesesteaks were respectable.

 

 

One diehard fan at the bar led the “crowd” in cheers, and was even able to fill in the bleeps when Eagles center Jason Kelce—dressed in Mummers sequins—gave his epic, profanity-sprinkled oration. Poetry of another sort. (I can’t share it here, but it’s definitely worth it to click through and watch on YouTube!)

“Hungry dogs run faster.”

What a great week to be from Philadelphia. Fly, Eagles, fly!

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