How would you feel if your country had been torn by war and you found yourself without a country, displaced, not knowing what you’d do next?
Would that break you? Or would you still find a reason to continue . . . to live? Would you still have the strength to thrive?
This week in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, a team of 10 athletes walked into the Macarana Stadium as part of Team Refugees; 10 athletes who had to run away from their hometowns and countries in order to survive; 10 athletes who did not give up hope.
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There might have lost their homes, but they did not lose their determination to fight!
Now, before you ignore this post because it must be one of those soppy, motivational posts, do this for me: try to spend the next five minutes trying to imagine how you'd live as a refugee.
We should recognize good when we see it. And when good wins, that brings hope. That's all I'm trying to point out.
As Ambassador Samantha Power pointed out, “These are athletes who have trained their whole lives to compete in the Olympics and they’d like nothing more than to compete under their own flags, but unfortunately instead of being able to do that they have been displaced from their homes.”
How would you feel if the ONE THING you trained for your whole life seems lost forever?
Let’s rejoice at the resilience these ten athletes have shown; let’s join the whole stadium of people that cheered and applauded Team Refugees and cheer for them as well; and let’s rejoice at the hope we’ve seen exemplified by these hard-working fellow beings.
But I also hope we will not stop there!
As President Obama pointed out,
As an immigrant to the US, I realize how good we have it here (though many days I focus on the things that are not going well or the things I still need to do). Did you know that if you’re an American, you don’t have to be even close to the uber-rich to make the list of the top 1% richest people in the world?
According to the Global Rich List, a website that seeks to bring awareness to worldwide income inequality, an income of $32,400 a year will allow you to make the cut.
I don't disagree that we have hard days. But if we took the time to realize there are so many things we can be grateful for, our lives would be very different!
My challenge to you today is the following:
Today, please remember Team Refugees! Learn from them not to give up. If they were able to do it, you can do it as well (especially if you're having a hard day or are tired of struggling to make ends meet).
Hope is a state of mind, not of the world.