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Dedication And Emission: The Marathon Of Hope

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Dedication originated from the Latin word dedicare in the 14th century, meaning to devote, or to commit one’s time and resources towards a task (Oxford Dictionary). Modern day usage of dedication is still applicable to the original definition, so little change has befallen the word. Despite also being associated with the Catholic church (to declare a church to be sacred), Oxford Dictionary defines the word as, “The quality of being committed to a task or purpose” (Oxford Dictionary). However, dedication’s definition in the modern world has expanded to include not only commitment, but also trivial amounts of focus onto a task, too little to be considered a true commitment. Although the general application of dedication is to be focus one’s time …show more content…

Dedication is even shown through a few months; what matters is the percentage of time that one dedicates to achieve that goal, and the passion behind it. Terry Fox was a Canadian athlete with osteosarcoma (a cancer that starts near the knees) who embarked on a cross-country marathon across Canada, named the Marathon of Hope (Terry Fox Foundation). It spanned 143 days and over 3,000 miles, all while having an amputated leg, to raise money and cancer awareness (Terry Fox Foundation). His fire was the wish to raise a dollar from every citizen in Canada, 24 million, for cancer research, and to spread awareness of cancer to a national level. He powered through rainstorms, agonizing moments when his leg started bleeding, and sickness from the exertion. He didn’t allow a disease that would have stopped nearly everyone to end his dream, exemplifying his remarkable commitment. A task of magnitudes lesser than that, for example being dedicated to pass a test, reduces the effect of the word, and disrespects exemplary commitment that is also described by dedication, like in Fox’s case. Additionally, Chiune Sugihara was a Japanese diplomat in Lithuania during WWII who issued tens of thousands of travel visas to jews, helping them escape to Japanese territory (Levine). He wrote visas for 18 hours each day for three months, until he had to leave his post. Even …show more content…

Some may say that tasks where people put any measure of sustained effort into is considered dedication. Others with the same conviction state that it is a word to reward people with, by saying that they are “dedicated,” making people feel better. However, this definition, which fits on a whole spectrum of commitment, does not accurately commend the people who spend years of their lives pursuing their goals enough credit for their actions. The meaning of dedication is weakened by attaching the word to actions that are negligible compared to noteworthy achievements that took immense effort. It is better to associate other, arguably less powerful words to describe smaller

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