A few days ago I said this of Simone Biles, and I quote “She got poor numbers and quit! Her Pride got hurt! Shall I call a wambulance!” She did lousy on the event and threw in the towel. Do I still stand by what I said..Yes and No! She quit! She said I am done! The proverbial horse said “Okay I will go back to the corral and wait.”
I understand the pressure she is under. She is expected to be perfect. She is expected to be the best. She is expected to beat her or someone else point total. Get a perfect 10 all the time. It doesn’t work that way. It is not as easy as it seems. The media doesn’t help. Neither does her family or her friends or even the people she practices with. They push her to be better. To go beyond what is humanly possible.
CBS, NBC, ABC, CNN, and all the other news outlets made her into something that she is not. A Super Hero. A Super Human being. Well she is neither of those. She is a girl. Not a Storm or a Bat Girl or a Wonder Woman. She doesn’t have super powers. She is just a girl that is good at what she does.
So much pressure is put on her shoulders but not only hers. On every competitor at the Olympic Games. “They are all Super Heroes!” No they are not. They are normal human beings that can do things most of us can’t. They can run faster and throw farther. They can swim better and canoe better than we can. They can jump higher and pitch better. They can do all those things and yet they are still human beings.
The media focuses on Miss Biles, and yet this girl from Alaska won gold for the first time and well because she is no Simone Biles, they ignore her. She won a gold and aside from her friends, family and local media, she is a blip on the radar of news. For those that don’t know her name, it’s Lydia Jacoby! She won gold in the 100 meter swim. Bet ya didn’t know that did you. No because the media couldn’t see beyond Miss Biles.
We have to stop putting these people on pedestals. They are not gods. They are mortal. They are flawed human beings that make mistakes and don’t always seem to be at their best all the time. It can’t be done. So stop making them into something that they are not. Let them be what they are, boys and girls, men and women that are good at what they do.
To Miss Biles, she may not read this but I do apologize for what I said. It might have been crass but it was at that moment how I felt. Be the best that YOU can be, not what everyone else wants you to be! As long as you have fun and do the best that you can do, that is what is important. Not the perfect 10’s or what the country thinks of you. It is what you think of YOU!
“Keep Looking Up, For His coming is Nigh!”
His Defiant Child 