Coach Williams gathered the team in a huddle. They were down by twelve points with four minutes left - an almost impossible deficit.
"Listen," she said, her voice calm. "We might lose this game. But that's not what I want you to think about. I want you to think about how you play these last four minutes. Will you give up, or will you give everything you have?"
Aisha looked at her teammates. They were exhausted. Some had tears in their eyes.
"I didn't come this far to quit," Aisha said. Her voice surprised her - strong, certain.
They scored eight points in those final minutes. They still lost by four. But as Aisha walked off the court, she felt something unexpected: pride. She'd played her hardest until the final buzzer. She'd refused to quit.
Later, her grandmother would tell her: "Victory isn't always about the scoreboard, child. Sometimes it's about the person you become in the struggle."
Aisha kept those words. They mattered more than any trophy.
Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.
In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.
It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate,
I am the captain of my soul.
The abandoned building had been an eyesore for years. Broken windows, graffiti tags, weeds pushing through cracks. Everyone in the neighborhood complained, but no one did anything.
Seventeen-year-old Dante decided to change that. He approached the city council with a proposal: let local artists create a mural on the building's wall. Most council members laughed.
"You're just a kid," one said. "This isn't realistic."
But Dante didn't stop. He gathered signatures, organized volunteers, found local artists willing to donate time. He faced rejection after rejection, but each "no" became motivation to work harder.
Six months later, the mural was complete: a stunning scene depicting the neighborhood's history and hopes. Families posed for photos in front of it. The city council member who had laughed? He showed up to the dedication ceremony and admitted he'd been wrong.
"I underestimated you," he told Dante. "You showed me that one determined person really can change a community."
Hold fast to dreams
For if dreams die
Life is a broken-winged bird
That cannot fly.
Hold fast to dreams
For when dreams go
Life is a barren field
Frozen with snow.