And then there's Simone Biles. . . There's the rest, and then there's Simone Biles.
Watch her perform, and you just might think she's barely human, but human she is, even though it's fair to say that she can do things with her body that no other human being can--and few can even imagine.
To say she's America's most talented gymnast is understatement. She's incomparable. No one does what she does. She's the quintessential mighty mite, 4'8" tall in a package of sheer grit and muscle. What she can do on the horse is not to be believed. For the eighth time, just last week she won the National Championship.
When she went over to Tokyo for the Olympics in 2020, nobody was more highly celebrated. She was the poster child for America's hopes. If anyone questioned our gold medals, no one doubted Simone Biles. She would do things the other girls could only dream of.
Then, out of nowhere, she was best by a case of "the twisties" that took her right out of the action. At her moment of world dominance, suddenly she was forced to step back, to languish out of the spotlight, to come agonizingly clean about her own emotional woes, to admit failure. Nothing about her withdrawal from competition was easy. People can be mean, thoughtless. She suffered for her withdrawal, but she suffered just as severely from the open criticism of others. American culture has come a long way with respect to emotional weaknesses, but some people thought she'd let down the red, white, and blue, dropping out of the competition, save for one event.
That was 2020. This week, the country's most storied gymnast returned and swept up the mat, not to mention the Vault, Uneven Bars, Balance Beam, and Floor Exercise. She was shockingly good, as close to perfect as any human being could be. She's back. Amazingly, she's returned.
And she's stronger. Physically? maybe--who knows? But more importantly, emotionally she's stronger. She's stayed out of the limelight deliberately, plotted out her own return, and stayed away from pressures she never really needed. She still does things no one else on earth can, but maybe her greatest gift to all of us, to any of us, is the arc of her triumph, which is an age-old plot line, but always a blessing--always, always a blessing.
She's come through. She's cut her losses. She's returned. Who cares if she messes up, she's back in the game and you can mark that a win--for all of us.
This morning's thanks is for Simone Biles, whose model of strength in life is even more remarkable than the magic she creates on the balance beam. She's back, and that she is is her most significant gift to all of us.
Then, out of nowhere, she was best by a case of "the twisties" that took her right out of the action. At her moment of world dominance, suddenly she was forced to step back, to languish out of the spotlight, to come agonizingly clean about her own emotional woes, to admit failure. Nothing about her withdrawal from competition was easy. People can be mean, thoughtless. She suffered for her withdrawal, but she suffered just as severely from the open criticism of others. American culture has come a long way with respect to emotional weaknesses, but some people thought she'd let down the red, white, and blue, dropping out of the competition, save for one event.
That was 2020. This week, the country's most storied gymnast returned and swept up the mat, not to mention the Vault, Uneven Bars, Balance Beam, and Floor Exercise. She was shockingly good, as close to perfect as any human being could be. She's back. Amazingly, she's returned.
And she's stronger. Physically? maybe--who knows? But more importantly, emotionally she's stronger. She's stayed out of the limelight deliberately, plotted out her own return, and stayed away from pressures she never really needed. She still does things no one else on earth can, but maybe her greatest gift to all of us, to any of us, is the arc of her triumph, which is an age-old plot line, but always a blessing--always, always a blessing.
She's come through. She's cut her losses. She's returned. Who cares if she messes up, she's back in the game and you can mark that a win--for all of us.
This morning's thanks is for Simone Biles, whose model of strength in life is even more remarkable than the magic she creates on the balance beam. She's back, and that she is is her most significant gift to all of us.
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