Gray: 'Certainly going into political life was a risk'

D.C. Council chairman and mayoral candidate Vincent C. Gray discusses his learning, work and advocacy in the mental health field and his political career in an article in this Sunday's Washington Post Magazine.

"Taking that job was a risk, and certainly going into political life was a risk -- running [first] against a three-time incumbent in Ward 7, running the council chair's race against someone really formidable, and I'm in another one now. You've got to do your own soul-searching, but I think if you believe that you can really do something different and better, you need to make the decision to step up. I had an experience in life once where I was a really good baseball player in high school -- I mean, really good -- and I had a tryout with a couple major-league teams. But I just stopped after a point, didn't pursue it any further. And it's really kind of plagued me all my life. You almost want to have failed rather than to have walked away from something because you didn't make the commitment to really try. "

Read the full article.