Defining Moments
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The Olympics are over. It has taken me a bit to get back to normal after the incredible period of time that we as a nation lived through which came to an amazing conclusion last Sunday, notably in the afternoon when Sidney Crosby played the hero and ensured that his teammates would be carrying gold around their necks at the conclusion of their game with the United States. I recorded the closing ceremonies of the Vancouver Winter Olympics but have yet to watch them all from beginning to end…maybe I’ll try and do that over this weekend.
The honour of carrying the nation’s flag at the end of the Games is a valued and high one. It is usually given to the athlete that has achieved an outstanding feat during the sixteen or so days of contest, so much so that they deserve to bask in the spotlight one more time before the Olympic flame is put out.
With these Olympics, the honour did not go to a gold medalist or a silver medalist. It went to someone who came in third. Imagine that, in our society where being first, in so many ways, is all but worshiped and desired. Canada let someone carry the flag who came in third.
But anyone familiar with Joannie Rochette’s story knows that there is much more than meets the eye to her then the bronze colour of her medal.
It would be just nine days ago when her family touched down to watch Joannie compete against the best in the world at the sport of figure skating. Up to this point, Joannie, a multi - time Canadian champion, was ranked fifth among all competing athletes in this sport, heading into these games. She was scheduled to begin the quest for the podium, on home soil, on a Thursday.
But on the Tuesday, just nine days ago, her mother Therese was felled by a heart attack, dying instantly. It was sudden and shocking and all of us who were not Joannie Rochette held our breaths, at least for a moment, when we thought of the ramifications this must have had on the young girl from Montreal. It would have been absolutely understandable if Rochette pulled out, so close to living one dream but entrenched in a very real nightmare.
However she reacted in those first moments of realization, or even those first days, will - and maybe should - be unknown to the public at large. It was shortly thereafter that Rochette appeared in public, on the ice, practicing for her upcoming skates. She hadn’t said anything to the media and she had decided to ’soldier on.’ She would continue her quest of an Olympic medal in her home land, only showing her deep sadness at the conclusion of her initial skate.
As good a story as Alex Bilodeau’s first Canadian gold medal on Canadian soil by being the best at the moguls and having his older brother Frederic cheering him on, you’d have to say it was even better that Rochette, having suffered such a grave loss just days before, came away with a bronze medal and found herself on the podium, turning in career bests in regards to her performances.
Just yesterday the final chapter of Joannie’s goodbye to her Mom was written. Therese’s body was buried in an emotional ceremony which included perhaps the ultimate gesture of tribute: Rochette laid her bronze medal on her Mom’s coffin.
When adversity hits us, we have several choices as to how we can handle it. But I think too often what we neglect to think about is how our actions, or reactions, will effect us for years to come. I’m not even sure Rochette is aware of the significance of her actions and how they will work to shape her into an incredible person and symbol of strength for others who can follow in her footsteps.
When hard times come my way, I need to consider how my responses not only effect my present but my future as well. I need to consider what it will mean to me when tomorrow comes, as well as when sixty, seventy, or eighty comes as well. Some people have made decisions in their younger days that have had negative reverberations on the rest of their lives, and these decisions sometime can serve to be irreversible in nature. Rochette understood the big picture enough to know that even though her Mom was gone, it was their mutual desire that she would compete on ‘the grandest stage of them all’ and do her very best to win. Rochette will not have any ‘what ifs’ or regrets when she looks back because she seized the opportunity that was given to her with her mother’s posthumous blessing.
When we reach those crossroads in life which threaten to take us off road, we need to take a look into the distance and remember our calling, remember our life’s mission, and make decisions based on the future and not the immediate present. May God help you and I to perform in such a way that we serve as models of excellence to those around us.
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