Kindness for the WIN!
The courage to be kind is a challenge we can all embrace.
-The Miracle Collectors
This month, Katie revisits the Olympics, finding a different perspective in the races won and lost, recognizing a culture of kindness as the biggest win of all.
I have been a fan of the Olympics since I was a child and my family gathered around our television in 1972 to watch the games and a gymnast from the Soviet Union, Olga Korbut, become a star. In the Tokyo Olympics just ended, new stars rose to the occasion, some in surprising ways as Simone Biles demonstrated by putting her mental health, her physical safety, and her team ahead of fame and medals. Others led me to wonder about our culture of winning at all costs in athletes who expressed dismay in capturing silver or bronze medals, winning anything less than gold made them losers in their own eyes. The antidote for that sentiment came from Molly Seidel, the surprise winner of the bronze medal in the marathon. Watching her cross the finish line is pure joy. And it turns out she was repeating a prayer to St. Jude, the patron saint of lost causes, over and over as she tried to find the strength to make it the last grueling miles. My kinda gal.
Perhaps I love the Olympics because it asks one question over and over again: Who are we in the moment when we reach the mountaintop or, more revealing still, when we’re thrown a curve or fall short of our goal? One of my favorite answers came from USA’s Isaiah Jewett and Botswana’s Nijel Amos who got tangled up in the 800 meter semi-finals and fell hard to the track, ending their chances to compete. Jewett thought at the time that Amos, who was just behind him, had clipped the back of his heel, making him fall. No matter, Jewett turned around to help Amos up, shook his hand, and then they finished the race together arm in arm. Years of herculean effort dismantled in seconds. Newspapers, TV, and social media have called it the ultimate sportsmanship, which it is. It is also the ultimate kindness: to extend the hand of friendship and forgiveness, to care, truly care, about how someone else is feeling, to make a bad situation better, to recognize our humanity is more important than winning, no matter how high the stakes or how big the stage. As Isaiah Jewett later said, “I have to live in that moment, not the moment that just happened. Even if I get another chance to run, I’m just super blessed that I’m here…If it wasn’t today, I’ll try again tomorrow.” So, he lives in the moment, and is full of gratitude and resilience too, an all around gold medal performance.
Kindness requires the courage to accept a rebuff, to stand up to the bully, to be seen as weak or even recognize that perhaps you, yourself, deserve kindness. We call it miracle courage because it is courage associated with bringing the characteristics of the miraculous to life – gratitude, forgiveness, love, and doing the right thing – as opposed to, say, slaying a dragon. In her book Wonder (film adaptation, 2017), P. J. Palacio writes, “Courage. Kindness. Friendship. Character. These are the qualities that define us as human beings, and propel us, on occasion, to greatness.” By this definition of greatness, we all have an opportunity to be Olympians. (Katie)