Emily C.

It’s hard to see how good I have it sometimes. I tend to take for granted many of my talents, accomplishments, and gifts. The other day, however, I saw something that really opened my eyes. My teammates and I were volunteering to time at a YMCA swim meet, which is a long and tedious task. Basically it means standing for hours on end on a hot and stuffy pool deck continuously getting soaked by the splash of the next swimmer hitting the water as you press a button on a stop watch over and over. I was getting a bit grumpy as the time wore on and at one point during the meet there was a long pause in between events. I looked around to see what was holding everything up. In the farthest lane from me a woman was leaning over the edge of the pool holding a young girl’s arm to the wall. It was the girl’s only arm. In fact, it was her only limb. The announcer started the race and the woman pushed the girl gently from the wall and the girl began to swim. She could not have been more than 10 years old, yet this girl, with no legs and only one arm, was swimming two lengths of the pool backstroke. It took her twice as long as the other swimmers but she finished. The whole pool was cheering and I’m sure over half the people there had tears in their eyes. It was the most inspiring race I have ever seen.