Inspirational Story

                Today’s class refreshed my memory. I recalled those moments and emotions I felt after Daniel Igali’s talk with us. For those who don’t know, Daniel Igali is a gold Olympic medalist champion and has an inspirational story about his road to the Olympics. From a little boy from a small village in Nigeria, going to school in a mud hut to becoming the first Canadian to win a Gold Medal in wrestling his story stirred emotions deep inside. Sitting just 1 metre away as he described his life as a little boy running across the barren fields, dreaming of going to the Olympics to his thoughts flooding his mind as he stood on that Olympic podium was just unforgetable. As he went through his life story, seeing his expressions and the twinkle in his eyes as he laughed about asking people if he could live with them, just made everything seem more real. Yes you hear amazing stories of people’s accomplishments everyday on the news, or in the paper but I couldn’t connect to them. Hearing the story directly from the person is a million times better as it feels more real. As he relived those moments I got a chance to see his life through his eyes which was really special.  I love hearing other people’s stories, and I am so glad he came, I couldn’t even eat my sandwich for fear of missing something! His faith and confidence in his abilities, determination to accomplish his goals and lots of hard work is the path that took him to the Olympics and I applaud him for never giving up. You don’t really get a chance to hear the story of the journey to that gold medal so I am so thankful that he came that day, it was truly inspirational.

                There were many moments when Daniel spoke that made me stop and think, such as how he use to treat education as something he must do in order to reach the next step instead of regarding education as a number one priority. I treat school as something in the way of more important things, but I realize now how important it is. Many people can not receive an education and its sad how much we take for granted everyday. I could be putting a lot more effort into my school work yet I am laid back about everything. Others would kill to be in my spot, for my opportunities while I limit myself by not putting my 100%.  My current attitude is “it’s good enough” even though deep down I know I am capable of so much more,  my parents are right when they nag me to do better, though at the time I just want them to leave me alone. I need to find that drive to accomplish, which I used to have because life is just going to get harder, so I need to figure it out now.  Anyways, things that were prized are now meaningless as they are overlooked. TV’s, washing machines, even clean water have become part of our definition of “normal” .While others struggle to survive we are thriving yet still unhappy or unsatisfied. I am sad to acknowledge that it seems like unless you lose or fight for something you don’t understand the value or importance of it.

                I am glad that Matheny discussed Daniel’s visit today because it reminded me of all those moments in class. I guess in a way I got to reflect over everything, make sense of my thoughts and learn from the experience.  After the class ended, and we thanked Igali,I wanted to share my experience with others yet whomever I spoke to, (who didn’t hear his story) didn’t understand how I felt because they didn’t experience it themselves. I dislike how those moments where you feel a little differently about things, everyone else still remains the same. I mean come on, if I have a Ah-Ha moment everyone else should to! However, unfortunately life is just not like that and everyone has their moment of realization at different times. The same routines, feel different to just you and whoever else experienced the same thing. Not being able to explain why meeting Daniel was so important was unbelievably frustrating!  I soon realized how pointless it was to describe what happened as experience is the connection between people, and my words couldn’t do justice to the story or even begin to describe my emotions. It’s  strange how at one moment you feel strongly and different about something and the next you find yourself caught up again on everyday things. Those moment that seemed AH-Ha at the time start fading, but all I needed was a little reminder, like today which brought me back to the moment when the bell rang, bringing Daniel Igali’s story to a halt.