When life gives you lemons, make lemonade; is that how
the saying goes? I realize that this is a tough lesson for us all, especially
when trying to teach it to your children.
This past Monday, I was glued to the internet as I
watched the Boston Marathon. As a runner, it is the mecca of marathon events
and as someone who was watching the event live last year when the bombings
occurred, I couldn’t miss it.
I had several friends who had flown to Boston to
participate after hard training to qualify. I had even more friends watching
from home after missing their own qualifying time by seconds. One of my close
friends decided to fly to Boston to support runners after he missed his own
qualifying time by a few seconds.
Ken Nwadike, CEO of Superhero Events (they put on
the Hollywood Half Marathon, Costume Party Run, and the Awesome 80s Run series)
decides to make the trek to Boston after dealing with disappointment this year
when his attempt to qualify for Boston failed by a mere few seconds.
Why? To go and support the thousands of runners
(almost 36,000 to be exact) that had qualified and to show that the journey is
not always about your own achievement.
Wearing a “Free Hugs” shirt and carrying a matching
sign, this race director stood on the course and offered hugs to the
participants running by. The reaction was astounding. As I watched his video of
the experience, I couldn’t help but finally understand the truth behind life’s
plan not always being in our hands.
You can see in this video the reaction that Ken
received from his kindness of choosing to fly across the country to show his
love and support for the Boston Marathoners. People not only run clear across
the course but double back just to get one of his hugs.
Free Hugs
I showed Stella the video at which she asked, “What is that man doing?” I explained that his hope was to be a runner but since he could not, he decided to be a part of the other runners’ experience and spread hugs.
My innocent daughter smiled and replied, “I bet the
runners liked the hug more than Ken running.” From the looks of the video,
Stella was absolutely right.
So many lessons in such a simple act from random
acts of kindness to the tough lesson of sometimes, things that we really want
don’t happen for a reason because someone else has a bigger and better plan for
us. 