Parental Instruction Continues

Yesterday evening I was over at my parents’ house watching the Olympics with my mom and dad. I’m not much of an Olympic fan but yesterday evening I got kind of caught-up in the women’s skiing. There was one woman fairly early in the final runs who had put in a strong effort and had taken the lead. Her name was Dominique Gisin and she is from Sweden. According to the TV commentators, she has won no World Championships and zero Olympic medals. What’s more, over the course of her skiing career she has had nine knee operations... nine.

Anyway, she was the early leader and as long as her time was the best, she would sit in front of the cameras at the bottom of the hill and wait while the other competitors came down the hill on their runs.

One by one the other skiers flew down the course, and each time their times were slower than Dominique Gisin’s time. Finally the last skier took her position on the top of the hill, preparing to make her final run. Her name was Tina Maze. In her home country of Slovenia she is like a rock star. She is a fashion model and has sung on a top-selling recording. Not only is she beautiful, but she has already won two Olympic medals. NBC did about a five minute piece highlighting her beauty and her many accomplishments both on and off the slopes.

When the piece had concluded and the cameras focused on her at the starting line, almost without thinking I uttered, “Well, it’s hard not to root for someone like her.”

Very casually my father mumbled something like, “Personally, I think I’m pulling for the girl who has gone through nine knee operations and has no Olympic medals. She has come this far, I’d just as soon see her win, given the choice.”

In the approximately 90 seconds it took Tina to arrive at the bottom of the hill, I had had enough time to ponder my father’s sentiments, and I too was pulling for Dominique Gisin. 

Sometimes I think I get swept up in glitter and temporarily misplace my sympathetic side. Fortunately I have a dad who is free of such lapses.