Today the Vancouver 2010 Paralympic games opened at BC Place. While reading an article in the local paper, I was struck by a statement Jody Barber of Smithers, BC made about competing in the women’s IPC Nordic skiing biathlon as a paralympic athlete.
“Life is 10 percent what happens to you and 90 per cent how you respond to it. You have to find an activity that you love so you’ll want to keep doing it and want to improve. You don’t really know right away how that lifestyle will benefit you. I remember talking to my mom a few days after my accident and I said that for the last year and a half I thought I was training for this huge triathlon but really, I was training to save my arm. I just didn’t know that at the time.”
It is an interesting thought that life is only 10 percent of what happens to you and 90 percent how you respond to it. Following this line of thought, as adults in the lives of children one of the most important teachings we can impress upon children is that life truly is what you make of it…. how you respond to what happens to you.. how you rise to the ocassion even in the face of the unexpected.
It was truly inspiring to see the paralympic athletes enter the stadium. In addition to any challenges they face, they are competing as world class athletes in difficult sports. It could be that watching the Paralympics teaches a child even more than watching the Olympics.
For a TV schedule of events see a previous posting about the Paralympics.
The Daily Dish is a space where I can document life in Vancouver as a mother, educator and every day citizen. There certainly is much to talk about in this vibrant urban centre, so you’re invited to return for the daily dish on what’s what in this BC family.
Pamela Chan/Editor, BCfamily.ca