Who spanks your bottom?
I was listening to a moving interview this morning on Radio 5 with a woman who as a budding young sportswoman was involved in a terrible accident, in which her back and legs were shredded by a boat propeller. After serious surgery she had her leg amputated but fortunately she did survive. The accident totally destroyed her, and she lay in bed all the time, feeling totally lost and sorry for herself. However, on one occasion a nurse came in and slammed her breakfast tray on the bed and said (something like) “What is the matter with you? All your parents want is for you to smile, and you can’t even do that. There is a 12 year old girl up stairs and she can smile, even though she has lost both her feet”. The sportswoman was understandably shocked. Her first thought was “How dare she? Who is she to talk to me like that after what I’ve been through!” However her second thought was “hang on, I don’t want a 12 year old girl to be better at recovery than me”, and from that moment on her attitude changed completely; at first she wanted to be the best she could at recovery, then she wanted to be the best she could at walking; her desire to be better continued and she has gone on to become a very successful paralympian. It turns out that there never was 12 year old girl upstairs, that nurse was just very smart!
The story was very moving and everything that that sportswoman went on to achieve was amazing. It shows that when we are in a rut we cannot always find from within ourselves whatever it is that is needed to take us on to the next level.
Perhaps with the plain speaking Charles van Commenee at the helm, British athletes can look forward to a successful Olympics? And perhaps if we want to beat Sandhurst we also need a few more firm handed nurses at the club? Now there’s a thought.