As I write to you from the Nassau County Victory Challenge (NC Games for the Physically Challenged), I finally get the meme about how if one disabled person screwed in a lightbulb, there would be five telling the person how inspirational they are.
Call it just rolling by, call it just being a bit oblivious, call it focused on just competing one event after the next, the fact is in the 22 years being at these Games, today was arguably one of my most inpsirational times at Mitchel Field and Nassau County. Not being worried about working to fill a scorecard of 12-13 events, or volunteering at 26 compared to at 22, I finally sat back so to speak, talked to my friends and also witnessed closely the athletes aged 5-21 do something victorious once again.
Well, wait, once again? You mean these kids are competing every day? Well, who ISN’T competing every day in 2018 to be the best? It hit me tonight as I watched these kids participate in wheelchair basketball or watched them cross the finish line that these games exemplify their effort to achieve victories daily!
Tonight in wheelchair basketball, for instance, it might have taken time for kids to make a basket but DAMMIT, they did! They took that extra effort to make that basket, and watching more closely I really appreciate that effort even more!
It’s no surprise to me , then, why most of us who are differently abled working to do big things every day are called an inspiration, because what we may feel is routine, is the furthest from a routine to outsider eyes.
So, if you feel you are beyond being called an inspiration and sort of shirk it off, I realize the best way to answer is say a big Thank You because that means those that see you as such notice your hard work and love you for it, just as the Games loves every athlete crossing the finish line, scoring the basket, or doing the high jump!
Day 2 may bring me more observations tomorrow, stay tuned!
The Writings of Alex Garrett 