Christian Living
“The Americans could lose the team gold to Russia” explained the commentator as Kerri Strug prepared for her first vault, “So Kerri Strug, it is up to her if she can score a 9.493,” the camera switches briefly to the stands “you see her parents in the stands, or better then she could win the team gold for the US. She is the last to go; she is the only one who can do it.”
Kerri Strug was the anchor on the 1996 Women’s Olympic Gymnastics Team. Four years earlier she had helped the US team win a bronze medal; now she stood poised to help her team win its first team gold medal ever. The Americans had built a lead, but Dominique Moceanu had fallen on both of her vaults giving the Russians a chance. Kerri was the team’s best vaulter and now the gold medal depended on her performance.
Kerri began sprinting down the runway; she was going to perform the same vault that her teammate had just fallen on twice. She hit the vault, flipped in the air and, “Oh! Three falls in a row for the Americans.” Kerri had fallen, but worse yet she had injured her left ankle when she landed. She heard a snap when she landed her dismount; now she was hobbling back to the start line. “9.162” the score flashed on the large screen. Was it enough to win the gold? The crowd, the commentators, Kerri, and all of America wondered if she would be able to perform her last vault; did she need to perform the last vault? The coaches could not calculate all the results quick enough.
As she sat on the edge of the mat with an ice pack on her ankle her coach, the great Bella Karolyi came over to her and put his arm around her. “Kerri, we need you to go one more time. We need you one more time for the gold.”
Her ankle and her head throbbing, the 4 foot 9 inch gymnast from Tucson Arizona, the veteran, presented herself to the judges acknowledging that she was ready to start her last vault. She took a deep breath and said a prayer, “Please God help me make this vault.” Temporarily pushing the pain aside Kerri began her sprint down the runway; she hit the vault, twisted in the air and stuck her landing just long enough for it to be scored.
“Kerri Strug is hurt” the commentator announced the obvious as Kerri fell to the mat holding her left ankle, her face grimacing, “She is hurt badly. She hurt herself on the first vault; probably the last thing she should have done was vault again but she did and now she is in a lot of pain.” Kerri had heard another snap from the same ankle as she landed. She had tore two ligaments in her left ankle and was unable to walk off the mat on her own.
“9.712” the score flashed on the large board. Kerri had done it; her heroic effort ensured that the American Woman’s Gymnastic Team would win their first team gold medal ever. The crowd inside the Georgia Dome erupted as the score was posted; my house erupted with cheers of joy; I think the entire nation rose to their feet on that day. It would become one of the greatest Olympic moments of all time. The fall on the first vault, though it was important, was not the story. It was how Kerri Strug got up after the fall that made this event one of the most significant in U.S. woman’s gymnastics.
While Kerri’s story is inspiring, it is not unique; the adage “It is not how you fall, but how you get back up” rings through locker rooms, football fields, playgrounds and offices across the world on a daily basis because most of us need to be inspired and motivated to “get back up” after a “fall.” Falling is no fun; it is often painful (physically as with Kerri), embarrassing (hurting our egos), or demoralizing (hurting our character); nobody likes to “fall.” The undeniable truth is that we all “fall” some of us more than others, some more gracefully than others, but we all “fall.” Falling is natural; the ability to “fall” is ingrained into all of us from birth. We do not need special training, certificates, or degrees to “fall” (unless of course you are a stunt person). “It is not how you fall” that is important because we all do it.
The second half of the adage says, “but how you get back up” which hints at a couple really important truths. The first truth is that getting up is man’s natural response to falling down. In some way, shape, or form we all are driven to “get back up.” Newton’s Third Law of Physics says, “For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.” The truth is that the action of falling down results in the desire (at some level) to get back up. We can bounce back up and fight through the pain like Kerri or we can choose to lie on the floor and wallow in our pain; either way we are reacting to the “fall.” Secondly the “but how” suggests that there is a way to “get back up.” That is to say that there is a skill set that can be developed. There are those, like Kerri, who have trained for years in The Art of Getting Up. Their skills are so honed that getting up becomes as natural as falling down. Most of us watch the Kerri Strugs of the world with awe and emotion, but we only have an appreciation of the art in the art form. We get up eventually, but lack the skills to get up quickly. Unfortunately there are many who were like me and believed that “ignorance is bliss” and refuse to practice The Art of Getting Up. Though there was intense pain blissfulness was found in lying in bed all day and shutting the world out; bliss at times was the thought of never having to deal with anything ever again. Getting up is a reaction to falling down; our reaction to falling down is an art.
In this series, “The Art of Getting Up” we will first taking a look into the “Art of Falling.” This may sound odd but when we learn to fall properly getting up becomes so much easier. We will focus on understanding the art form before we appreciate the art. There is this artist on PBS (I can’t believe his show still airs) named Bob Ross who teaches his viewers the art form, the brush strokes, the blending of colors, the different brushes and so on. As he is teaching he effortlessly covers the canvas with the brush strokes, the properly blended colors using various brushes; only when he is finished teaching the art form can we stand back and appreciate the art work. Of course we will be discussing how learning the “Art of Getting Up” is lived out as Hyperspiritual Christians. I often times give the condensed version of my understanding of what it means to be Hyperspiritual by saying “Hyperspirituality does not mean we will not fall; it means that we get right back up and dust ourselves off.” If you are interested in the “Art of Getting Up” this should be a fun and informative series; I hope you follow and enjoy.
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