If You Need Inspiration, Watch This

Posted by DJL on Jul 19, 2012 in Culture | 2 comments

I can’t embed this video, I can only direct you to it. But I hope you click the link, give the 90 seconds it takes to watch it, and then send it on to others. It’s incredible.

The video is a powerful and inspiring preview of the coming Paralympics Games in London later this summer. The Paralympics, if you are not yet familiar with them, is an international competition that includes athletes with motion disabilities, cognitive impairment, blindness, cerebral palsy, and amputations, among other things. The first organized competitions were started by some disabled veterans of World War II and have grown over the last half-century into an international movement.

As this brief preview shows, the athletes competing are a testimony to the human spirit that in some ways transcends even the Olympics themselves. They have overcome so much, but in particular they have overcome the very idea that injury or disability is inherently limiting. I couldn’t help but think of Paul’s words to the Romans, “And not only that, but we also boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.” (Rom. 5:3-5). Yes, I realize that the Paralympics is not a religious group and that the endurance, character, and hope Paul speaks about is distinct from what this video portrays. But I’d also suggest that it is distinct, not utterly different, and if there are people in this world who have gained the right to boast of their sufferings because they have moved beyond them to endurance, character, and hope, it’s these folks.

You can find the video here and more information on the Paralympics here. Blessings.

Note: Thanks to Andrew Sullivan for directing me to this video.