JFSA blog article – July 2011
By Isabelle St-Jean
With the current International Paralympic Committee Swimming European Championship going on (July 3 to 10th) we can be awestruck by the impressive resolve of the athletes competing in Berlin this month. Browsing through the IPC website www.paralympic.org I wanted to learn more about the athletes and looked into their bios. Among them, I noticed Darda Geiger, whose name has a South German and Jewish (Ashkenazi) origin, and means violin player or maker. Darda is a young female athlete residing in Ontario who lost her right leg in a farming accident at the age of two. Aside from participating in swimming competitions, Darda is also a physiotherapist and a professional speaker.
Darda and her team-mates won gold medals for the 4 X 100 medley relay at the Sydney 2000 Paralympic Games. Then she was awarded the 2000 Female Athlete of the Year Award in Sarnia, Ontario. When asked about her philosophy and what she suggests one keeps in mind to sustain perseverance, she said “never grow a wishbone where a backbone ought to be”. This reminds me of comments I recently appreciated from a Rabbi who was lecturing to a group of parents encouraging them to inculcate good values and a sense of resolve in their children to strengthen their backbone.
A few years ago I was deeply moved by the story of Art Berg, a US athlete who became quadriplegic after a tragic car accident at the age of 21. While in recovery from his accident he was advised to lower his expectations about what he was going to be able to achieve with his life. However, during that time, Art decided that he had an incredible opportunity to inspire others about surmounting extreme adversity. Within the next few years he got married, started a family and was recognized by three national sales awards as a computer salesman for a national firm. Then, the Small Business Administration in Utah named Art the 1992 Young Entrepreneur of the Year. And, during the height of his career as a professional speaker, Art achieved the highest earned designation of Certified Speaking Professional and was inducted into its Speaker Hall of Fame — a status achieved by less than 1% of professional speakers. In 1993 he set a world-record by becoming the first quadriplegic, at his level of ability, to race an ultra-marathon of 325 miles between Salt Lake City, Utah and St. George, Utah.
Art’s motto was “while the difficult takes time, the impossible just takes a little longer”. This extraordinarily optimistic attitude is a good antidote to a common tendency to expect quick-fix results with minimal efforts rather than engaging in sustained focus and perseverance towards worthy goals. One of Art’s quotes was “whatever you choose to believe will drive the emotions, behaviour and thus the results of your life”. Unfortunately, Art passed away on February 19, 2002, from a toxic reaction to a prescription drug. To learn more about him and his book The Impossible Just Takes a Little Longer, visit his website at www.artberg.com
The strengths of the human spirit overcoming barriers of circumstances or of disability are visible in all spheres of life. Recently, a remarkable video circulated through e-mail and touched the hearts of many. This link (below) shows an excerpt of a concert featuring a young female musician who has a physical disability; she plays piano yet has no fingers on her right hand. Take a moment to appreciate this truly inspiring virtuoso:
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Practical suggestion:
If you are a parent, how about keeping the family inspired with powerful quotes on a regular basis? The website www.inspirational-quotes.info has a great selection of quotes. Once a week you can choose one and introduce it at a family meal then keep it within view and discuss it a week later before introducing another quote to keep in mind for the week. Try this consistently for 2-3 months and you will likely be surprised by the positive effects that will become palpable among family members.
Questions to Ponder:
What are ways used in your family to overcome adversity? Do you have a story to share about a person who is surmounting the barriers of a disability? If so, please contribute to our blog so that more people can benefit from what you have to share.
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