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| Mike Ullery, Piqua Daily Call |
The real story here is Meghan Vogel, a runner from West-Liberty Salem High School who was competing in the Ohio state track meet. She won the Division III State Championship in the 1600 meters, with her first sub-5 minute time. Congratulations, Meghan! That is an awesome accomplishment.
As is frequently the case, Meghan had another race scheduled thirty minutes after the race she won. The 3200 meters. Sometimes this works well (think Babe Didrickson Zaharias); most often it does not. Meghan struggled through the whole race, and near the end, saw a girl in front of her fall several times. Knowing from her years of cross country experience that the girl's race would not count if an official helped her, Ms. Vogel hoisted the girl up, dragged her to the finish, and then pushed her across the line first, since the girl had been ahead of her most of the race.
This is exactly the sort of behavior we hope to instill in our athletes as good sportsmanship. As Ms. Vogel says, perhaps we are all making too much of this one act, however heart warming and inspiring it may be.
An extremely UNHELPFUL view of this act was delivered by Mr.Limbaugh and can be found here: Does Meghan Vogel Story, Who Stopped To Help A Fallen Runner, Suggest We Are In A Decline Of Hard Manliness?
Well. I think that running one mile in under five minutes, and then running most of two miles is pretty hard. "Manly" doesn't really strike me as a complimentary word. War is 'manly'. Not showing emotion is 'manly'. So is poor hygiene, shooting animals for sport, and apparently, liking Mr. Limbaugh's politics.
I can only hope that we are heading toward a culture that supports hard WOMANLINESS. 'Cause baby, that's a whole lot harder than hard manliness. You have to accomplish even more, but do it in a kindly and compassionate fashion. Plus, you probably have to clean up the mess afterwards, because it has to be done.
I'll be out running at 6 a.m. tomorrow morning, if Mr. Limbaugh wants to join me. And I'm sure that Ms. Vogel would welcome him to training with her team as well. Perhaps he could learn some valuable lessons about what makes winners.
AMEN, sista! (Your post called for a Southern Baptist moment.)
ReplyDeleteOne of the things that frustrates me about our culture, is that it's okay for girls to be masculine in actions and desires, but boys, in no way, can be feminine. Or else they're called out as being gay, which is Bad. There is something fundamentally, and seriously, wrong and hurtful about this. We should all be more polite, compassionate people, to hell with labels and divisions.
Ladies and gentleman we have just been exposed to a true human champion. Now let's just hope that this kind of sportsmanship is contagious. May she succeed in all that she does. Bravo!
ReplyDeleteGo, you!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteIf trampling on the fallen and the struggling is "hard manliness," I just hope it declines fasther than (searches for metaphor) a speeding bullet? my bank balance every month?
ReplyDeleteI agree with Charlotte. If hard manliness means not being a compassionate human being, who needs it? Certainly not Megan Vogel.
ReplyDeleteConsider the source. ESPN had Meghan's run as number 4 on its Top Plays list. I would have put it at No. 1
ReplyDeleteI just had to put my two cents in. I would like to think I raised my daughter to be a Meghan rather than a Rush. How cruel to fault to girl for being helpful instead of the kind who would take advantage of a fallen competitor to win a race. Shame on Rush Limbaugh.
ReplyDelete