Swimming as more than a pass-time

So I've been watching the Olympics, as has half of the world, I'm sure, and I've especially enjoyed watching America's Michael Phelps and his incredible feats of speed. Any negative comments or stiff competition only seem to drive the man faster and harder, and something that is INCREDIBLY difficult to beat! How do you out-swim a competitor who only grows faster with tougher competition? It's like fending off a beast who gets meaner the more you wound it. However, though his natural ability is indisputable, it's his heart that really bears admiring (in my mind). The man is built for swimming: he's kind of a goofy human being (his upper-half totally dwarfs his lower half) and that's not something the average joe can imitate. However, his heart, drive, and desire ARE attributes that a normal person can emulate. They are qualities that I would like to foster in my own self. It won't be in competitive swimming; that boat has come and gone. But I can excel in other areas of my life and I think that's a message every person can take from Michael Phelps and all of the other Olympians. They have physical abilities that most of us can only dream of having, but they aren't only naturals: they have had to work very hard to get where they are. Life and training haven't been easy for any of them (with the possible exception of the Jamaican who comically began his celebration before crossing the finish line... he might just be that good without lots of training). Nor should life be easy for any of us. The trials of life help us appreciate it more; something you work for is almost always more valuable to you than a gift.

So what we need to do is find out what is important to us and aim for that, setting and keeping goals along the way. In making that statement, I feel that I must add a qualifier: we must find and strive for not only what is important to us, but what is best for us as well. Many an ambitious person has burnt bridges, stepped on toes, and demolished others as they strove for what they found to be important. And those people are left lonely, friendless, and without love in their life. That last might be a bit melo-dramatic and cliche, but I still think it holds truer than not. I'll again point to the example of Michael Phelps.

1. His mother and sisters were there cheering him on, crying when he won, and hugging him when they could. He appears to love his family and they obviously love him. And that's much more important than his eight gold medals.
2. After the last race the commentators kept asking awkward questions and tried to make it seem like Mike carried the whole team. The others were very humble and didn't try to draw limelight to themselves, but instead played along with the idiocy. Mike then set the record straight and pointed out that he is not a one-man team and that the others played as strong of roles as he. Who cannot respect and love him more for that?

I don't know what his personal life is like, nor what sort of standards he lives by, but I think the example he set while in Beijing is admirable and one worth emulation. He's made me want to be better at what I do (and maybe get back into the pool and do some laps). (c= The Olympics are all about peaceful competition, and I think to get there globally our collective hearts will have to change. These athletes help give us hope that we can do that.