who am I to complain?

Being Canadian has never been better. The medals are exciting, 26 in total and 14 golds, more than any nation has ever won at Winter Olympics. These achievements  allowed us to be uncharacteristically patriotic and outside of our  often apologetic, understated, underdog ways.

But the real story is in the spirit of the  athletes. We could just use the last 17 days to exemplify extraordinary human behavior.  If you needed to discuss real “winning” with your children or give yourself a reminder-these past three weeks have given us all we need.

Grounding and Perspective -Alexandre Bilodeau – grounding and family have given him his motivation, constantly  asking himself while growing up with a brother with C.P.,  “Who am I to complain?”  Worth repeating. “Who am I to complain ?”

Perseverance no matter what-Joannie Rochette- finding motivation to go on in spite of deep and fresh grief. “What my mom would have wanted me to do… go after my dreams”

Teamwork-Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir  – innocence , dedication, partnership and best friendship.

Not Giving up –Sidney Crosby and the entire team-It ain’t over till the fat lady (ok, skinny kid) sings

Investing- Private and Public funding- you have to spend to make.

Goals placed on the highest setting- Own the Podium- not everyone loved this, many were embarrassed by it but in the end under promising and over delivering  may not be the only way to motivate and score.

No Apology needed -Smoke ’em on center ice and then smoke them on center ice- did we really need an apology from the Canadian Women’s hockey team? They were perfect working hard and playing hard.

Real Beauty –Jon Montgomery- we could not have scripted a better persona. Self described “goofball”,  part time used car salesman,  graduate of Auctioneering College, clearly can do more than just talk  at high speeds. Describes his sport as 140km on a cafeteria tray with wheels(a $7000 tray, that is). Celebrates his Gold by downing a pitcher-why stop at a cup- of Canadian lager. He is unabashedly himself and he is a beauty.

Timing is Everything  – Life never promises to be fair /ultimate in lesson in sportsmanship- pay attention to this one-Devon Kershaw, in a 2 hour cross country race,  after a lifetime of dedication and  training, comes in 5th at only 1.5 seconds behind the gold medal. When was the last time 1.5 seconds meant anything to you?

The spirit was thick and alive everywhere-the whole world cheering. But in the end the moment when the athlete jumps over the boards to hug their mvp-mom, dad, coach, girlfriend/ boyfriend,  or handicapped brother is the moment that grabs me. They are thankful because of the  huge outer circle of support but they are there and it is sweeter than sweet because of the stronger- than- kryptonite inner circle of support.

I believe.

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