KIM MICHAEL

One Mentally Challenged Runner and His Friends Loose the Race, but Win the Hearts of Thousands

By Kim Michael January 2016    




It was the 1976 field and track event in Spokane, not the Special Olympics as has been erroneously reported by many since it happened, but that doesn't diminish the value of this story. Nine physically and mentally challenged runners lined up to do the 100 yard dash that day. When the starting gun went off they all moved forward. They had all trained for months just for this one moment. They all wanted to win, more than anything. It was their way of saying to world I am valuable. I matter.  

And then the unimaginable happened, one little boy stumbled, took a couple of hard tumbles on the asphalt and landed face down, and began to cry. Most of the other runners didn't notice, yet two runners, a boy and a girl, stopped for a moment and looked back. They saw the little boy lying on the ground crying. Slowly they went back forgetting about the race, forgetting about all the months they had trained for this single moment, and forgetting all that it meant to them. To them, all they saw was one little boy who had failed, who was hurt and crying. They lifted him up and then they put their arms around him, locking arms with him and together the three of them walked smiling across the finish line together... dead last.

As they crossed the finish line sixty thousand people immediately came to their feet. The deafening  applause that went on for many long minutes seemed like hours. Some moved to tears. Those three runners had lost the race, but in so doing, had won the greatest race of all...the human race.  

We are all put on this earth to do many things. Some are destined for greatness while others are merely here to do normal things greatly. What is noble and good in all of us is not a birthright. It comes from a generosity of spirit that puts the needs of others ahead of our own.  

For all that were at the race that day, few will remember those who won, fewer still will ever know the courage it took for those physically and mentally challenged children to do as simple a thing as running a race, but none will ever forget the three runners who finished last... and maybe that's what winning is really all about.