The 2012 OIympics are going to be
held in London this summer, and I saw a recent article about the preparations
and excitement already afoot. There wasn’t anything about the athletes
themselves, but we know those stories will come. Once the games start, we’ll be
all caught up in the excitement. Amazing,
isn’t it, just how much can depend on being one millisecond faster or a teeny
bit more dazzling?
But if you want to know the truth, part
of me is going to be thinking – these young athletes have trained their whole lives
for this day. This is what they do. Many
people show extraordinary bravery and endurance and strength in other ways. Why aren’t they standing up on a pedestal, hearing
the National Anthem and having a medal is draped around their neck? Where are
their awards?
Right here.
I’d like to recognize some of the
truly extraordinary performances I’ve seen (names withheld to protect the
innocent.)
1. For facing bad (make that the worst) medical news. The competition is
tough for this one, but the gold medal goes to a friend who has been battling a
fatal illness not only with determination and fortitude, but without losing her
ability to remain actively engaged in the lives of her family and friends.
2. For parenting a troubled child.
Again there are a few contenders, but the winner is a woman who recognized that
her son needed help with addiction issues and managed to get him into rehab
even though he is over 21.
3. For coping with the death of a
spouse. One gold medal goes to a friend
whose husband of more than 40 years died after a quick, degenerative illness, and
she has managed to find the strength to carry on. A second medal goes to a
young woman I see raising her children while she copes with her own loss.
4. For watching a parent fade away with Alzheimer’s
disease. There are far too many friends who could easily win this one hands
down. What was I thinking? The competition is so tough that I’m going to have
to call in outside judges. Medals still
pending.
5. For dealing with adversity. A gold medal goes to a friend who’s legally
blind and yet manages to see more than all of us. She’s a docent at several museums, cooks,
entertains and does everything except drive a car.
6.
For aging gracefully. The gold
medal goes to a relative in her 80s who lives alone, goes to work every day and
is sharp and funny and full of life.
Instead of complaining about aches and pains, she tells her doctors she
doesn’t have time for appointments.
This is just a preliminary list, not
meant to be all inclusive. After all, the
other Olympics has a whole committee,
not to mention a multimillion dollar budget to do things like this. And I can’t even sing the National Anthem on
key to my winners.
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