Have you been watching any of the paralympics? My goodness, those people are amazing!
Swimmers with no arms, hitting the wall with their heads. Men and women running with one, or two, prosthetic legs, and doing times most able-bodied people can’t manage. People with barely functioning legs and one arm not working, lashed to a pole and throwing a shot put with one working arm…and getting distances most of us, with everything in working order, can’t dream of getting. Blind men playing soccer… How do they know where the net is? How do they pass the ball to each other? It’s one thing to kick the thing in the general direction, but how the heck do they know how or when to pick it up with their foot and move it on to the next?
Not only are they achieving mind-boggling things with bodies most of us would have used as an excuse to withdraw from life, they do it with such joy. They’re thrilled if they win a medal – any colour – but they’re also delighted to simply take part. I saw an interview with a young man who had both arms amputated at the elbow and both legs amputated just below the knees. He was a swimmer. He came fourth in his race, and he’d swum against men who had at least one working arm, and some had two. When asked if he was disappointed he didn’t do better he said, “It’s such a great event to come to. I’m proud to swim for (his country) and I’m having fun.” Take away the high-powered sponsorship, the pressure to win at all costs, and lo and behold the athlete is allowed to have fun. Strangely enough that seems to produce better results as well.
I watched some of the races for the sight-challenged and thought: If I take my glasses off, I could compete in that. (Without my spectacles I can barely see my hand in front of my face.) Pity I can’t run. Then I thought: If I can’t run, maybe I could try some of the other events?
I can’t shoot; I’ve always been terrified of guns. I can’t sail (chronic sea-sickness). I’ve never been able to get the basketball through the hoop. My arms are too weak to heave a shot-put or discus. I can’t swim fast (or get into a bathing suit). There’s no way known to man I could bend my sausage legs into one of those fabulous racing wheelchairs. I’ve always been crap at table tennis and… Flipping heck; I’m too decrepit to take part in the paralympics!
It’s certainly been inspirational stuff. If someone is passionate, determined and willing to work hard they can achieve amazing, outstanding, unbelievable things. One young cerebral-palsied cycling medallist said: The word “can’t” isn’t in my dictionary. So, no excuses.
I’ve just got to find the right event, and then the oomph to train, the discipline to get up early and…perhaps not. I’ll go with my strengths. I reckon I’d be a dead cert for a gold medal in “watching and cheering”. Look out Rio, here I come!
Hi Wendy , i hope your escape is relaxing:).I need to change my dictionary to the one the cycling medalist has!!!It would be amazing the things we could do,without the word can’t.xxx
So true, Joan, so true. 🙂
I was watching a local girl, Jayme Richardson-Paris, in the cycling. In the middle of the race she suffered spasms in her arms. The bike wobbled and I thought she was gone. But she kept going and won a bronze medal.
If you think about it, most of us have more in common with paralympians than with Olympic athletes. They are primed and pumped to their peak. If they do well it is not surprising. It is only the degree of wellness that is commented on. But I’ve been engaged in many projects where I’ve had wobbles in the middle, and I rarely win the gold medal at anything. So the corporate Olympics is not really much of a metaphor for my own life.
Jayme is the cyclist I referred to in my blog. What an inspiration! I think you’re right, Ken, about relating more to the paralympians than the able-bodied athletes. However, in many ways their achievements are much greater than the able-bodied, and their strength of will – their determination to succeed – far exceeds that of most people. Whichever way you look at it, they’re both a lesson and a challenge to the rest of us. BTW, I loved the metaphor. 🙂
You’re so right, Wendy! The more I go on in life, the more I realise that there are an awful lot of things I’m awful at! The other realisation is that I can only do a small number of the things I am more able in and passionate about. Saying no to lots of things I could do, let alone to all the ones I want to say I ‘can’t’, is darn hard! So that leaves me with one or two things I am doing – and if I do them with anything like the discipline and the enjoyment of our paralympians, I’ll be doing well!
That’s it! However, there are lots of worthwhile things we could all do well without much effort on our part: compassion; thoughtfulness; politeness; friendliness; hopefulness; generosity; joy; appreciation, and embracing life. My main areas of expertise are speaking and writing, but all the above can be incorporated into any life, regardless of any talent or expertise. Here endeth the lesson. 🙂