Olympic Spirit, Choosing God, and Dara Torres

As a parent I always have my eye pealed for teaching moments (and likely drive our kids crazy with some of them!).

Like many, we've been watching the Olympics. What a wondrous metephore for faith life. Focus, determination, saying "Yes!" to one thing and "No." to the rest... and we never really know when and how we will be tested or how our simplest choices can influence others.

Take Dara Torres, the 41 year old wife, mom, and returning Olympic swimmer. My understanding is that Torres is Jewish, having been inducted into the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame. It seems clear she is a woman of faith, and a woman who understands what it means to uphold human dignity.

In one of the prelims, her opponent in the lane next to her asked for help zipping her swimsuit. It was torn and had to be changed. Torres left her starting block, loosing her focus on her preparation, and talked with an official and the other swimmers asking them to wait. Wait they did.

Clearly Torres had trained extensively for this moment. She put all that training on hold to care for the needs of another over her own. That also takes discipline and consistant nurturing of the soul to have that as your natural reaction when the opportunity comes.

"In the pool we're competitors, out of the pool they're my friends," was Torres' simple explanation.

What a beautiful example of the fruit that comes from valuing others, knowing that even when we compete, everyone is made in God's image, and caring more about doing what is right than settling for what is easy.

I have no idea when and how such teaching moments will appear in the actions of our daughters. But I see their innate generosity toward others, despite the occasional spat or whollop, and know that it does help shape them into who God has created them to be. And I pray I may learn my own lesson, and have my natural reaction always be one of upholding dignity of others, regardless of whether a world is watching or not.

Blessings,
Patrick