I WROTE ON AN ARTICLE FROM: http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-3445_162-57433319/gymnast-shawn-johnson-a-true-golden-girl/
I recently (a few hour or so ago) watched a CBS interview with Shawn Johnson. From what I've seen in the past and that recent interview, she is charismatic, talented, and a cutie to boot (I am a dude just for the record). In her interview with Mo Rocca, a few things stuck out.
Shawn Johnson is clearly into gymnastics. She shares that it: “Makes you feel like Superman and gives you a thrill. It's like an adrenaline rush.” Following that she said this, “It’s [gymnastics] what I live for.” Do note, this is a loaded comment. Although it may not be true for Shawn Johnson in an extremely literal sense that does not mean this is not true for others.
Although she’s much older than the typical gymnasts (10 years old); Shawn is the self-proclaimed gym granny. She is there because she loves it. She is there because she is dedicated. This year she is competing in the London Games. Loving a sport is not wrong, in fact, doing something you enjoy professionally is a good goal for anyone. However, can sports be something to live for? Do sports make a good God?
Read the following excerpts from the article:
She was expected to win gold in the individual all-around competition. But going into her final event she was a distant 8th.
"I figured it out about ten seconds before I started my floor routine, that my chances of gold were gone," she told Rocca. "I told myself, 'If you can't actually get the gold medal, I want to go out there and prove to the 50,000 people in the arena that I deserved it.'"
"Was it liberating?" Rocca asked.
"Definitely. I remember that routine, that moment - I had zero pressure. I was just wanting to go out there and have fun and do the best routine of my life."
She managed to win silver, which Johnson says taught her something invaluable: "My worth isn't determined by a color of a medal."
"Getting a silver," said Rocca, "is not getting a gold."
"Exactly. You know, one of the first questions I was asked was, 'How does it feel to lose?' And I said, 'You know, if that's what people think, then we have it all wrong, 'cause I didn't lose anything. I won a silver medal.'"
I love it. When she realized that she was not going to place gold and was at peace with it, she was freed from the pressure and was empowered to perform or routine to the best of her ability without the tension caused by a desire to win the highest prize.
I hope this is obvious. “My worth isn’t determined by a color of a medal.” This is the truth. Shawn Johnson, an irreplaceable and priceless person (I did not say athlete for a reason), her worth is not determined by a cheap (but highly esteemed), replaceable object. Yet the first defense, and I would likely fall prone to it as well, for he being questioned on how she did not win the gold, was how she won the silver. Accomplishment and recognition are good, but they are not everything.
Shawn Johnson, following the Olympics takes a 2 year “break” involving Dancing with the stars and being sculpted out of butter. The last segment of the interview was the last piece that caught my eye:
But the sport she loved so much kept calling her back. And the mother who loves her daughter so much has mixed feelings about that.
"Secretly, I hoped she was done," said Teri. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't say that. I really thought that after the Olympics, we would just kind of go back home and things would just go back to normal."
But Shawn Johnson doesn't have time for "normal" . . . at least not right now.
When asked to guess what she'll be doing in 20 years' time, Johnson replied, "I don't know what I'm doing tomorrow, let alone in 20 years. I have no idea. I have to finish college, you know, have a family, be just living a normal life. But hopefully be successful." [emphasis added]
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-3445_162-57433319/gymnast-shawn-johnson-a-true-golden-girl/
It is easy to say that Shawn Johnson has very much already been quite successful. S/he has competed at an athletic level that many people have never experienced, and many never will. In looking at life on the level of “normality,” It is too easy to miss what successful means and translates too. My successes (lovingly serving my family, being less and less of a taker in my relationships) will not necessarily be synonymous to hers. Additionally, the scale and rank of success has to be recognized as well. Everyone doesn’t go to the moon and not because we can’t build enough rockets.
I beg of others to not forget Sarah Devens, an excellent 3 sport collegiate athlete who died in 1995. Her life, by her definition, was intense, stressful, and structure. She shared in an interview before her death:
"I don't know if I would be happy [if I quit a team] ... It would be sort of hard to quit now. Part of me wishes I could take a break, but I want to be there, to keep playing." http://thedartmouth.com/1995/07/12/news/sarah
Sports are a wonderful hobby, a wonderful way to stay healthy and have fun at the same time. It provides challenge, a thrill and more. However do not fail to recognize that sports cannot fulfill a person, especially for one’s whole life. We age. We grow tired. We grow weak. I do not know Shawn Johnson. I do not know her beliefs, but I do know this. If sports, if people, if anything that is subject to change, decay, or cease at some point is the object or foundation of her identity, then one day she as well as any other person with a similar foundation will be disappointed.
Listen to the Psalmist:
PSALMS 84
My soul yearns, even faints for the courts of the Lord; my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God…..blessed are those who dwell in your house… blessed are those whose strength is in you…. They go from strength to strength till each appears before God in Zion…. Better is one day in your courts than a thousand elsewhere…. The Lord bestows favor and honor; no good thing does he withhold from those whose walk is blameless…. Blessed is the one who trusts in you.
