“I’ll tell you a true story,” he said. “A young man with disabilities wanted to win the 100-metre race. And he got into the finals. And he was running like crazy to get that gold medal, and somebody in the next lane tripped and fell. And he stopped, picked this guy up, and they ran together, and both of them were the last.
“That’s a true story,” Mr. Vanier confirmed. It’s the deepest lesson the disabled have to teach. “It’s not that they can become like us – but how can we become like them and have fun together. And lift up the chap who has fallen on the other lane, and come in last. There’s in us all an ego we have to conquer. You kill the ego so that the real person may rise up. And the real person is the one who’s learning to love.”
Jean Vanier created L’Arche – a unique community for mentally disabled adults
The full article is well worth reading. There are lessons for all of us in it.
With thanks to my pal in Newfoundland for directing me to this heart warming article.
The disabled are just us, in other bodies. They have a lot to teach us. A disabled person was my first teacher: my mother. She’d had polio as a child, was not strong, could not run or walk far. I was her pair of legs, her strong shoulder to lean on when she was tired and hurting, the one she could trust to do what she could not – not because I was sorry for her, but because she was my *mother*. I learned a lot about putting ego and my own wishes aside to make the world a nicer place for someone else, about kindness, about considering someone’s needs before they ask or even know it themselves.
Your story sounds a little like mine. My mother had a serious heart attack when I was nine. Treatment was very different back then. She was told not to stand if she could sit and not to sit if she could lie down! A woman with six children,,, three younger than me? I might not have been the eldest child, but I was the eldest girl, so all her chores fell to me. I learned to cook by going up the stairs to ask “What do I do next?”. My father never entered the kitchen but my eldest brother helped lift the heavy pots when they were hot. The bond with my mother and eldest brother were and are stronger than super glue.
I don’t think it did you or I any harm!
No indeed, I think it made us intelligent, self sufficient and capable adults.
I agree, Long may we prosper!
An inspiring story, but not one I find it easy to agree with. The race is there to be won, and unless circumstances arise – as they have done in yachting where a winning yacht turns back to help another in distress, loses the race, but saves lives – then I think it is one’s job to finish and only worry about rendering aid later. Do I hear loud boos?
Not loud boos, but I will agree to differ. I was never a sports person, my role in life from an early age has evolved into caring for those in difficulty, I seem unable to break the mould.
On rereading your comment, Col, surely the young man above was doing in his way exactly what the yachting team did: He saw danger and responded.
That is admirable, but I have this regrettable fanatically competitive streak.
Dearest Col… You are a man! 😉 😉
Yes, this story and a few others on similar events, teach us a great deal about how to be better as human beings.
They certainly do.
I’ve never liked the quote, “Good guys finish last,” because it implies that greed, and power, and arrogance will get you to the finish line first . . .
But that’s not the finish line that I’m aiming for. 😎
When we stop clinging to ego attachments, we lighten our load and learn who we truly are. ~ Lama Surya Das
Nancy, nowadays there seems to be one hellofalot of greed involved in all areas of sport.. If I am wrong, why are so many competitors found to be using drugs. No event these days happens without massive sponsorship from major companies who have nothing to do with the sports involved.
i must have skipped over the bits about “racing ahead & winning” – I saw the words as community, sharing and cheering… in whatever circumstances you find yourself or others in..
Cathy, that is how I saw it too.
Great story. I have a mentally handicapped friend whom I visit. At first, I thought the visits were for him, but now I know they are for me. He teaches me much.
Julie, welcome to my blog. For years I was a Hospice volunteer and I soon realised that I gained more than I gave in that wonderful place of peace and acceptance.