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Summary Of Worth The Wait By Rick Reilly's Essay

992 Words4 Pages

Did you know twins are almost 12 times as likely as single-birth babies to develop cerebral palsy? Sportswriter, Rick Reilly, journals the experience of Ben Comen’s ultimate fight against both cerebral palsy and his ability to cross the finish line at the end of the cross country meet, in an article titled “Worth the Wait”. In the article, Reilly describes the tough obstacles Comen displays during the cross country meet, including him falling before the finish , being bandaged by the trainer and crossing the finish line finally. It is challenging to picture someone finishing a 3.1 mile trail, if you do not run, much less someone running with cerebral palsy. But Reilly drags the reader into the journey of Ben’s fight to finish the cross country …show more content…

Reilly uses mainly motivational verbs in paragraphs, summarizing Ben’s fight to finish the cross country race. Verbs such as “never”, “drive” and “crosses” describes Ben’s motivation to finish the cross country meet at his high school. Using this passionately inspired diction connects Ben’s urge to never quit and to finish the cross country meet and his fight to not let cerebral palsy control his life. It is not only surprising that he had crossed the finish line even though he had fallen multiple times, but even trying to complete the race afterwards. Specifically, the word “never” is taken by others in a negative way. Like Ben never being able to run “normal”. But the meaning of “never” in this particular article is positive, referring to Ben never willingly quitting and putting up a fight against those other competitors. Reilly describes Ben as having “drive” during a few of his races because other competitors almost always forgot about Ben because he always was in last place and finished twenty minutes later than everyone else but he still had the “drive” to cross that finish line at the end of the race. The encouraging words Riley is portraying shows the readers that he is inspired by his drive and ability to never

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