At times I find myself taking my health and wellness for granted. I think we all as humans do; its a natural occurrence to not appreciate the little things you have in life. I complain when I have your basic of common colds, while there's people living with no limbs. In class recently, we watched a touching story about a teenage high school student who was on his school's varsity wrestling team. He was born with no legs or arms, but he never let that stop him. His grandmother pushed him and taught him how to live with his condition. He overcame his condition and won over 30 wrestling matches his senior year and advanced to the state wrestling tournament. Although, he didn't win he inspired to appreciate what I have and never take it for granted. After watching this I thought to myself how would it be to play a sport with a disability and how would people I associate with think of it. My favorite sport is basketball. I just love how its a physical but skillful sport. I played it all my life. I couldn't even imagine what would it be like to play with one arm or have a mental disability. That's why when I heard about the J.Mac story it amazed me because, not only did he play with autism but he scored like 22 points in a short time span. He not only over came his condition and never gave up but he excelled despite the odds.
I wrote this blog just to express my appreciation of life and to tell everyone cherish the moments life offers because things could always be a million times worse.
I remember when this story broke a few years back(i think) on ESPN. It was an extremely emotion story and it was all over the news for the longest time. His accomplishments were nothing short of amazing. I remember Outside the Lines doing a special piece on him that was very emotional. It was impossible to not be happy for the kid.
ReplyDeleteI agree with what you say, about things being million times worse, but I don't think that people like J Mac, or any other disabled athlete think they have it worse than you and I. I think its good to show them appreciation and to praise them, just like other athletes, when they make a great accomplishment. But I don't think we should portray them in a light that is different than anyone else. To do so would belittle their accomplishments. You know what I mean?
I've been lucky enough to participate in sport without a disability. When I look back, all of my memories I have received from sports would be drastically different. As a kid, you pick the sports your friends are participating in. If I had a disability I would not have been able to play the sports my friends were which wouldn't allow me to have those memories.
ReplyDeleteIm not sure if you could have worded this any better. I have a perfectly working body that allows me to physically excercise and I find myself complaining about not wanting to head to the rec that day, yet there are people who cannot use their legs who want more than anything to be able to use them. This classes title is sport and gender yet Dr. Spencer always finds a way to take it to the next level and arrouses interest.
ReplyDeleteI also agree with you! Sadly, people take life for granted when there's people who would give anything to live a so-called "normal" life. But these people are so inspiring and to them its just another day. I believe that alot of times people with disabilities don't receive enough respect or credit but they are doing greater things than most other people every day of their lives.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing this moving tribute to J-Mac and other athletes with disabilities. I was really glad that someone showed it in class during the presentations.
ReplyDeleteI can not imagine being disabled and playing sport, it is a struggle that would be extremely hard to overcome and I am impressed with the accomplishments of some of these disabled athletes. In regards to J-Mac his story is truly amazing but it has also changed him. A friend of mine is from Rochester and knows the high school he went to. The friend worked at an outdoor concert hall and J-Mac came and he was extremely rude, mean and demanded things because of his "celebrity" to the staff and my friend. So while I respect what he did I am disappointed he let it go to his head.
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