He Did the Right Thing

If you're my friend on facebook or follow me on twitter (What, you don't follow me on twitter? Get on it!) you've already seen this. But I had to post it here too. Yes, I want those of you who haven't seen this to be able to experience it, but more importantly, I never ever want to lose this story and this video. Ever. Because I plan to watch it every time I am feeling down about the ways of the world.

Check it out here. Don't skip over that link and keep reading what I have to say, read/watch it and then come back. Ok - Go! Here!

So you're back now and you read it, and watched it, right? Please tell me you can no longer read what I  have written because your eyes are so full of tears? If you're not crying, is your heart made out of coal? Seriously, is it? Because I don't think it is humanly possible to not cry over this video.

Here's the thing. We've all seen or heard stories where kids do something nice for special needs kids. Letting someone score the winning basket or touchdown, or cheering on a last place finish in a race because, who cares about last place when a kid with CP ran a friggin' race! All of those stories are awesome, no doubt.

But to me, this one takes the cake. If you watched that video to the end - you BETTER have watched it to the end - you will see not only the bravery of Jared, the boy with CP, but the unbelievable strength of character of his opponent Justin. When I read the article at first, I assumed Justin was warned. Maybe he got a pep talk from his coach, something along the lines of "Listen up, son. Your opponent has cerebral palsy. This is a really big deal for him to wrestle, and if you do what you know is right, you will make his dream come true". Wink wink, nudge nudge.

But then I saw the video and saw that until he stepped on the mat, Justin had no idea. He shook Jared's hand and saw that he had CP, and in a split second made the decision to do the right thing. Not every kid would have done that.

It is safe to say my faith in humanity has been restored. When I worry about the kind of world my boys are up against, I will watch this video and remind myself the big scary world of discrimination is also full of people like Justin.


PS - I cried off and on for HOURS after watching that video. Crying again now that I am posting this. It's that good.