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Show . 0 ! by Teri Gomes Winning one day at a time I have a small confession. After living here for nearly six years I take an awful lot for granted. Seductive hedonism can easily become a way of life. My time is spent concerned with my family, my job, my friends, my church group. Perhaps because Park City is a very small community, these things take on unrealistic proportions, until in a very tunnel-vision way they seem to be all there is. Lucky for me, the town played host to a special event just in time "to remind me o"f the real important things in life. And for entirely selfish reasons I volunteered to be part of it. I'm talking, of course, about the Utah Special Olympics Winter Games held here this past week. Organizers of the event were generous enough to say they needed help, they needed volunteers, when in fact . what they were doing was giving us a chance to be helped ourselves. Sunday afternoon, at the opening ceremonies at the Park City Ski Area, more than 300 athletes sharing some form of mental retardation marched together under their regional banners to officially open the Games. They listened to speeches, they cheered the introduction of important guests, and they raised their right hands to take an oath: "Let me win, but it I cannot win, let me be brave in the attempt." PaikiU' Kiley Warr shared the torch-carrying with a fellow student from his school in Coalville, but it was his smile, not the torch, that I focused on. He looked not less proud than Kafer Johnson did in Los Angeles last summer. But it was Riley's look of utter amazement that struck me, when he touched the torch and actually ignited the flame. He appeared to be startled at first, and then, quickly, rather pleased with himself. I loved it. For me, that torch lighting is very much what it's like to work with these people. At first, quite frankly, it can be a little startling to spend time with people who are so unabashedly honest. In most day-to-day experiences I deal with people who have learned to mask their emotions and to double-talk and sidestep the issues. The elementary kindness of giving a hug and hearing "I love you," well, it took me back at first. But then I discovered all over again how infectious simple kindness can be, and it's rather pleasing to see the results- so immediately. Somehow, in the volunteer's attempt to give the athletes strokes and be supportive, the roles reversed. It was I who got the warm fuzzies. And it strikes a vein with me that maybe a number of" people didn't get a chance to volunteer for these Utah Games. Lucky for us all, the granddaddy of the Winter Special Olympics, the 1985 International Winter Special Olympics Games, will be held right here in our own back yard this March. Organizers say they need volunteers. say don't miss this opportunity to plug back into a very ciear definition of winning-one day at a time. Thanks, Jim Murphy et al for letting me think it was you who needed me. And thanks, Riley etal. for reminding me of some very basic notions of being brave I had temporarily forgotten. |