Olympian and Doughnuts

It's Olympics time and it seems obvious to write about one of the Olympians I've admired: Olga Corbet, Nadia Comăneci, Bonnie Blair, Joan Benoit. But I don't feel like it. Probably because I'm adverse to doing the obvious. Wouldn't want to be droll. Maybe it's that the appeal of these women is so clear that it needs no elaboration. They are great athletes. Period.

However, these particular four were also ground-breakers. The first backwards somersault on the beam ever, the first perfect ten in Olympic gymnastics ever, the most decorated winter Olympian ever (until just last week, still the most decorated woman), the first woman's marathon gold medalist ever. Ever.

Intense focus on one thing. That's what fascinates me about these women. How do they do that? How do they get up every morning (super early) and do one thing all day long and still love it, love it more for having been so focused? I lack that ability and I admire what I lack. That much is becoming obvious (obvious: from the Latin ob {in the way} + via {road}. No wonder I don't like it. I like a clear path and loathe obstructions). But admiring what I lack isn't a form of self-flogging. I like being easily distracted. I was always the day-dreamer starring out the window at school, taking everything in and pondering it all. My sensory filter is not fine-grained. I rarely can block out my surroundings or give zen-like focus to one thing. I suck at meditating. But my lack of focus enables me to notice connections and subtleties other people (those super-focused types I admire for their super-focused talents) might miss. When I was studying mathematics in college, one of my favorite courses was topology. What I took away from the study of shapes and transformation of shapes was that seemingly unrelated things might be relateable. One just needs to find the function (the way, the via) to get from one thing to the other.

For example: people are like doughnuts. Why? Because humans and doughnuts have one hole. Humans have a complicated surface, but we're all doughnuts topologically speaking. Not those gross jelly-filled kind, or fancy fritters, just your basic old-fashioned. From pie-hole to A-hole, it's all just one hole (see diagram).
Maybe that's why I loathe the obvious. I need an unobstructed road, no obs in my via, if I harbor any hope of getting anywhere ever without being tantalized by the tangential.