Each story highlighted throughout the exceptional coverage brought us shades of courage and hope. Each athlete was indeed inspirational and every back story we heard gave us a sample of the thousands of courageous stories represented at the games. In my book, just showing up and competing is worth a dozen golden medals.
What were your Paralympic highlights? Perhaps you share some of mine:
Visually imparted runners tethered to their sighted partners.
A wheelchair tennis champ humbly cleaning up a wet court.
The pin point accuracy of the incredible Boccia teams.
Comradery between athletes from countries usually at war.
Road races where competitors cheered each other up the steep hills.
Swimmers with no limbs moving through water with spectacular speed.
Interviews with winning athletes who couldn’t wipe smiles off their faces.
Interviews with some who didn’t win, thinking they’d let us down.
And how about those amazing marathon runners who bravely ended the Paralympic program? I wonder how it felt for them to run triumphantly into a near empty stadium? But within the eerie echo, the truth is there were hundreds of millions around the world cheering them on. Unseen clouds of witnesses. As spiritual athletes in the marathon of life we have invisible cheerleaders too. So let’s learn the lessons brought to us over the Para Games and let’s keep running – no matter what!
On the flip side of this topic is the sobering fact that only very few people living with disabilities ever realise their dreams, let alone have their basic needs and rights met. 90% of the world’s ONE BILLION people living with disabilities live in poverty and often within communities where there remains injustice and misinformation concerning disability. These are the brave lives we won’t see on our screens – the inspirational stories we may never hear – the precious lives fully known by God alone. Our family is committed to support the life-changing work of CBM. End the Cycle CBM