Word of Encouragement

The Olympic watch continues! After fast-forwarding through all of those commercials and replaying, I love watching athletes shatter world records and being reminded that the world can periodically come together and collectively marvel at the skill and athleticism that is on display.

Two important highlights grabbed my attention. First, if you want to see what pure, unadulterated euphoria looks like, watch the video of Tamyra Mensah-Stock. After winning the gold medal in women's wrestling, she gave thanks to God, noted how hard she had worked, then let the world know that she loves representing the United States. The video went viral.

Another very important moment in the Olympics involved Simone Biles. At the 2016 Olympics, Simone gave one of the greatest performances by an American gymnast as she won four gold medals, plus the love and admiration of people around the world. However, at this year’s Olympics, she surprised people when she withdrew from the team competition and all-around competition, citing the need to protect her mental health. Several members of the press questioned how she could “quit” on her team when they were battling for a gold medal.

For me, her actions after her withdrawal from competition made a statement about her true character. She didn’t run and hide. Instead, she stayed at the Olympics, cheered on her teammates and when Sunisa Lee won the gold medal in the all-around competition, she effusively praised her fellow teammate. And one week later, with an entire world watching, she showed great courage by choosing to get back on the balance beam and compete. She simplified her routine and ended up winning the bronze medal.

In her comments after the award ceremony she talked about mental health issues and reminded the world that “we are not just entertainment, we’re human.” Watching her, I was reminded of Teddy Roosevelt’s famous “Man in the Arena” speech where he proclaimed:

"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena…who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat."

Can I get personal with you? During the Covid pandemic our leaders have constantly told us that we need to “follow the science.” But no one has “scientifically” assessed or quantified the impact that Covid has had on the mental health and well-being of lots of people.

After all, have you ever asked your friends: “How are you doing” and just knew that their “I’m ok” response was clearly not the case. If so, then you’ll appreciate my friend Charles, who never lets my “I’m ok” stand when he senses there is other “stuff” going on in my life.

After Charles asks me a question and senses that I might be withholding some information, he will wait until I am done speaking and then ask: “Now, for the translation.” It is Charles’ way of saying, in a non-judgmental way, “I am your friend, I care about you and I really want to know what’s going on.”

When one of my friends gives me an "I’m ok" (but an “I’m not really ok”) response, I try to channel my “inner Charles” and ask for “the translation.” Then, when appropriate, I will affirm them, let them know that just like Simone Biles, “we are all human,” at times we are not ok, and then ask how, as their friend, I can best support them.

One of my late mentors used to tell me that he drew great strength and comfort from the words in the Gospel of John, where Jesus tells us: “I have called you friends.” With that thought in mind, as we head into the weekend, consider if there is someone in your sphere of friendship that could use some encouragement and a reminder that you really do care about them and, just like Charles, you really do want to know what’s going on.