Days Of Grace A Memoir

I read the memoir of Arthur Ashe, the great tennis player, and I remember being struck by the part where he talks about being the first black player for the US Davis Cup.

i love to quote what i think is the greatest book of leadership of the 20th century which is the godfather by mario prusado and uh in the book don cor leone says don't make the mistake of hating your enemies it clouds your judgment and that is so true again this isn't about whether it's ethically morally right or wrong to lose your temper i happen to believe it is ethically and morally wrong in the in the failure to treat others as we would be treated ourselves it's a failure but here i'm making the case pragmatically why it's a very good idea not to lose your temper for the host of reasons we've just explored

i cannot commend it more highly to people what what strikes you most about the letter i'm a huge arthur ash fan but i haven't i haven't read this first that he would write it in such a kind of practical way and ash was a practical kind of thinker he wasn't a hugely emotional person and the letter is full of very specific admonitions to camera about about dating about um what would happen to her growing up as an african-american about her mother and her it's a very moving in that it's very practical it's very moving in that it also hits some grace notes that are that will pluck at your heartstrings as any such letter will do and then thirdly simply knowing it's from arthur ash and as you alluded to what he uh overcame in his life kind of the male version of althea gibson the great first african-american who went through all this ash sailed in her wake truly but was always very cognizant of it and um he manages to capture all this in just a lovely letter he has a great expression that he tries to play physically loose but mentally tight which i think sort of is a great way to to do any sort of high performance elite activity