Olympic Gold

Would you be upset if you went to London to compete for a medal and came back to the United States without gold, silver or bronze?

With so much anticipation of the world’s greatest athletes to come together on center stage at the London Olympic Games for competition, I wonder what the thought process is for the thousands of athletes who will not return with a medal. They have trained for years, months, days and hours just like the winners, yet, they get no glory for their efforts.

Our youth are on the same stage day after day and we sit back and allow it to happen. Every young person who has breath should be encouraged, cheered, motivated, inspired and empowered to do great things. However, we sit back and select the more talented, more attractive and most outgoing youth to support and encourage. What about the D student or the less attractive young man/lady? They are on the same stage, yet we ignore their future potential.

I heard a sermon by Bishop Kenneth L. Robinson where he talked about a trip to a soccer match in Africa. He compared the enthusiasm of the tens of thousands of spectators to fans in the United States after a home run, a buzzer beater from 3 point range or a touchdown followed by a dance in the end zone. There was one big difference, no one had scored, yet the fans were all celebrating and yelling at the top of their lungs. The score had been 0-0 for more than 40 minutes of play. The score was not the reason for the excitement but the ANTICIPATION of a goal was.

“It is the greatest of all mistakes to do nothing because you can do only a little. DO WHAT YOU CAN.” - Sydney Smith-

Every child is not destined to be the best at everything but every child should be encouraged as if they will someday bring home the gold. There are a lot of premier athletes, actors/actresses, business executives with a lot of money and promise in their respective fields but their character sucks. Let’s not allow another young person from our community make it to center stage without the proper training and guidance from the members of the community.

How awesome would it be to see a young person you know compete in future Olympic Games? Whether they win or lose should not matter. The real winners are not those at the top but those who have come the farthest over the toughest roads. Their victory may never make the headlines, but THEY will know about it, and that’s what counts.

Are you helping to prepare a GOLD medal mentality in a young person? I dare you to try.


Travis Hardin

“Pay it forward”

 http://theredefinedproject.org/speakers/travis_hardin.php