Insights

When the olympics show up every four years we are introduced to some amazing stories that captivate our attention. With the winter olympics coming to an end just a few days ago I have been seeing these stories come out and one that captured my attention was the story of American speed skater, Erin Jackson.

Going into Olympic qualifying, Erin was the fastest in the world at the 500m. She was fast, like, really fast. One speed skater compared competing against Erin to competing against Simone Biles. When you were competing against Simone, you and everyone else were competing for second place. That's how it was with Erin. When she showed up, she won.

That is, until Olympic qualifying. She was skating smoothly, well ahead of qualifying times when the blade of her skate slipped. She didn’t fall, but the slip up was just enough for her to place 4th, out of qualifying position. The fastest in the world had failed to qualify for the Olympics. 

Enter Brittany Bowe.

Brittany is the American skater who filled the spot that was opened up when Erin Jackson slipped. Brittany gave up her spot on the Olympic team so that Erin would have her chance to skate in Beijing.

There are a ton of interviews about this act of generosity and selflessness, but in one interview, what stuck out to me was that Brittany said, “Erin is our best chance at winning gold in Beijing.” Our. Brittany Bowe was more concerned about the whole than the individual.

In one of our recent newsletters Mrs. McIlvoy wrote that agency is “the belief that we have the power to change ourselves and our environment.” When I look at this story of Brittany Bowe and Erin Jackson, I see many things such as Brittany’s selflessness and generosity to give up something she had worked for for so long. Growing up, who did she see this generosity and selflessness in? What made her believe that this was something she could embody? Even though Erin was the best in the world, what made her not have a sense of entitlement? Who taught her to lose with grace?

Both of these women, at some point in their lives made the decision to change themselves and to compete a certain way. They made the decision to win and lose with dignity. I’m confident that they changed their environment by the way they competed. This story has caused me to look inward at myself. They are changing me and my environment.

As a Christ follower, how are you living? Is your life pointing others to Jesus so that they can change? Do you realize that by living like Jesus, as we are called to do, we have the ability to change people's environments?

We can. It’s true. And that is exactly what Christ calls us to do. May we, together, strive to make an impact for Christ.

Joel Gutowsky
Director of Student Life
Logos Preparatory Academy