― Bethany Hamilton
At a recent
school swim meet, I overhead a junior high girl complain that she could not do
the event in which the coach had placed her.
This girl was very agitated and I watched as she told the coach that she
could just not do it. Another girl on
the team, a very strong swimmer whom I know, asked her what was wrong. When the girl told her, the more experienced
swimmer assured her that she could do it and reviewed with her the strokes that
were involved as well as the rules for turning.
Both girls were swimming in the same event. The more experienced swimmer missed finishing
first by seconds and placed second to a girl from another
school. (She went on to finish first in
another event.) At the end of the race,
she called out to the other girl ― the one who had said that she could not do
it ― and said something that sounded like "good job."
I was so
touched by this teenage girl's kindness.
She is an incredibly talented and strong swimmer who seems to glide
through the water with the greatest of ease.
And as wonderful as it is to watch her swim, it is pretty amazing to
observe her acts of kindness. After the meet, I asked her what she had said
to her teammate. "'Good job,'"
she said, "But I didn't think anyone heard me." And that is who this girl is ― kind and
quiet about it, gracious and generous.
It is truly a lovely thing to see and it touches my heart every time.
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