Monday, July 25, 2005
"Who Won?" by Dan Clark
I saw a beautiful example of kindness in 1968 during the Special Olympics track and field meet. One participant was Kim Peek, a brain-damaged, severely handicapped boy racing in the 50-yard dash.
Kim was racing against two other athletes with cerebral palsy. They were in wheelchairs; Kim was the lone runner. As the gun sounded, Kim moved quickly ahead of the other two. Twenty yards ahead and 10 yards from the finish line, he turned to see how the others were coming. The girl had turned her wheelchair around and was stuck against the wall. The other boy was pushing his wheelchair backward with his feet. Kim stopped, went back and pushed the girl across the finish line. The boy in the wheelchair going backward won the race. The girl took second. Kim lost.
Or did he? The crowd that gave Kim a standing ovation didn't think so.
(Note from Mike - After spending some time on Google, I discovered that Kim Peek was later the inspiration for the character of Raymond Babbit in Barry Morrow's Rain Man. He has an eidetic memory, which is the ability to recall images, sounds, or objects in memory with great accuracy and in seemingly unlimited volume.)
Kim was racing against two other athletes with cerebral palsy. They were in wheelchairs; Kim was the lone runner. As the gun sounded, Kim moved quickly ahead of the other two. Twenty yards ahead and 10 yards from the finish line, he turned to see how the others were coming. The girl had turned her wheelchair around and was stuck against the wall. The other boy was pushing his wheelchair backward with his feet. Kim stopped, went back and pushed the girl across the finish line. The boy in the wheelchair going backward won the race. The girl took second. Kim lost.
Or did he? The crowd that gave Kim a standing ovation didn't think so.
(Note from Mike - After spending some time on Google, I discovered that Kim Peek was later the inspiration for the character of Raymond Babbit in Barry Morrow's Rain Man. He has an eidetic memory, which is the ability to recall images, sounds, or objects in memory with great accuracy and in seemingly unlimited volume.)
