Carry Me and I Will Carry You

As they reached closer and closer to the finish line, the young lass stumbled over screaming in pain as her knee gave way. Runners in close view of the finish line ran past her, each with only one goal in mind: to finish the race before any of the other runners. But Melanie Bailey had a different idea and it didn't matter to her that this was Eastern Dakota Conference’s Cross Country Championship. Melanie Bailey had the injured girl hop on her back and Melanie carried her to the finish line.

This story and the photo of their amazing finish immediately went viral; my guess is the plight of their finish surpassed any story of who actually won the championship race. I love stories like this because they counteract what society  teaches us today, as we live in a me first society.

 As an extremely competitive person, involved in all kinds of sports throughout my life, even now, I surprised myself with my reaction in a unique situation just as Melanie's, but not quite so dramatic. In recent years, I had been running 5k races with my father, this particular race was a 5k Turkey Trot Race on a Thanksgiving morning. After the first mile and a half a crying  12 year-old lad had stopped because he was having chest pains and difficulty in breathing. As a number of runners swooshed by, myself and two other runners stopped to assist him in any way we could. Once he calmed down, we encouraged him to just walk slowly for awhile, no harm in that, is there? After he acknowledged he was okay, we set upon our course. At about the two and a half mile mark, I saw the young boy wisk by me, so apparently he was fine, which is an understatement, because he would finish the race a couple runners ahead of me. I didn't let my competitive edge get the best of me, I was just glad to see the kid finish the race.

The following year when the Turkey Trot Race came a calling again, I made a point of finishing the race the best I could. Having run races my whole life, this one I finished in a personal best record of just under 25 minutes.

So, I didn't let my competitive edge counteract what I or any of us should do in putting others before ourselves. And in my case, I was rewarded with a personal accomplishment, it may have taken a year, but it was worth it.

May we all show a little heart like Melanie Bailey.

Strong people don't put others down, they lift them up.