Being special

Wilma Rudolph weighed 4.6 pounds when she was born prematurely. She battled childhood pneumonia, scarlet fever and polio and at the age of six, lost the use of her left leg and was fitted with braces. "I spent most of my time trying to get them off. (I had an uncompromising resolve) to be a normal kid," she often said.

For someone who wanted to be normal, Wilma Rudolph was very special. At 16, she won a bronze medal at the Olympic Games in Melbourne, Australia. In the 1960 Rome Olympics, she became 'the fastest woman in the world' and the first American woman to win three gold medals in one Olympics.

All this from a woman who was told as a child that she would never walk without braces.

"My mother taught me very early to believe I could achieve any accomplishment I wanted to. The first was to walk without braces," she is quoted as saying.

When I teach the self-esteem course at the homeless shelter where I work, I ask the attendees to give me the names of people they admire. Dead or alive, fictional or human, who are the people who inspire you?

Beside the names of Mother, Father, Aunt, Grade one Teacher, Ghandi, Mother Teresa, we list the attributes of each person that make that person remarkable. "Strong. Honest. Hard-working. Kind. Compassionate. Intelligent. Committed. Big-hearted...."

Words such as 'rich', 'tall', 'owns the most cars', etc. seldom make it to the list and when they do, upon examination, they are generally noted as 'nice to have', but not necessary to live a full and purposeful life.

Once the list is complete, I ask the students to write "My Allies" at the top of a page in their binder and underneath the heading, to write their own list and to note the characteristics of each individual that they admire.

Those are your value-driven words, I tell them. They are what you value most in people, and are the characteristics you most value in yourself. If you feel you haven't been caring or honest, hard-working or strong, ask one of your allies to help you be caring and honest, hard-working, strong. Imagine for a moment that you are one of your allies and then ask yourself -- What would you do in this situation? Or, as Brian Willis suggests, What's Important Now? -- W.I.N.

We all have allies, people we admire in life who have done or achieved or overcome something remarkable. Wilma Rudolph is one of my allies. She reminds me of my favourite character in "What Katy Did" a book I cherished when I was a child. Katy fell off a roof and broke her back. She wasn't satisfied sitting in a wheelchair and created a rich and wonderful world of creativity around her. Whenever I'm feeling blue or frustrated by a situation, I ask myself, "What would Katy do?" Inevitably, the answer is, she'd find the value in this situation and not let it get her down.

When I'm feeling like the odds are stacked against me. That I simply cannot take one more step, I don my Wilma Rudolph cloak of power in my imagination and step boldly forward. I cast off the constraints just as Wilma once cast off her leg braces and take a giant leap into the unknown.

When Wilma first released herself from her braces, she didn't know she would one day be an Olympic champion. All she knew was that she didn't want to be different than the rest of the kids. She didn't want to be 'special'. She wanted to be normal.

Ultimately, Wilma was special. Not because of her brace, or even because of overcoming such a difficult condition. She was special because she didn't give up. She never backed down. She set her sights on what she wanted and lived her Be. Do. Have. In the end, when Wilma died at the age of 54 from cancer, she left behind a very special legacy that has inspired countless young men and women to strive for gold and live the life of their dreams, no matter what track they're on.

The question is: Are you treating yourself as special because you can't do something or because of something you never had or something that happened to you long ago? Or, are you making your life special by being committed to Be. Do. Have. To being your most amazing self so you can do what it takes to reach your goals and live the life of your dreams?