Senior Worlds 2017
A lot of you might know that I am hanging out at the
Weightlifting Senior World Championships with three of Mash Mafia’s finest:
Brian Reisenauer, Jordan Canrtell, and Nathan Damron, and our entire coaching
staff of Vinh Huynh, Don McCauley, and me.
However this article isn’t about their preparation, our programming, or
anything like that. It’s about the other
aspect of sport that people rarely talk about.
It’s the real reason that we have World Championships and the Olympics,
or at least it should be the real reason.
I was reminded of underlying goal when I was at breakfast
this morning. I ate breakfast with men
and women from all over the world. I was
in the same room as Iranians, Italians, and Koreans. I waited in line with them, and I sat beside
them. You know what I noticed? They were just like me.
Yeah we didn’t speak the same language, but they interacted
with their peers the same way that Americans do. They laughed, and they joked with each
other. It was a beautiful to just sit
back and watch. This was a room full of
athletes and coaches with dreams just like mine. None of them was really caring about the
differences in religion or government.
For this small moment in time, we were all the same.
We are all the same!
We are just humans trying to survive this crazy world. I have to believe that it is the governments
and the media that create the divides for power and money. I can’t believe that humans at the very basic
level care one way or the other. Yeah I
love my God, and I rely on my faith.
Yeah I believe that it would be advantageous for everyone, but I don’t
hate anyone for not believing like me. I
don’t think that most humans really care.
Sports at an International level remind all of us that we
can all get along. It should remind us
that we are all the same at the most basic of levels. All of us want a chance to improve our
lives. All of us want a purpose on this
earth. All of us want to protect our
families. All of us want the ability to
worship and believe in the way that we choose without anyone or any country
trying to hinder those abilities. We
just want to be respected for the way that we want to live our lives. You don’t have to agree with me nor I you,
but we must respect each other. Empathy
is so hard to find in this world.
However when athletes come together at a World Championships or
Olympics, empathy can be found in abundance.
I grew up in the mountains of North Carolina in an area with
a 1% minority population. I dreamed of
meeting people from around the world.
Racism was fairly copious in the mountains. The locals seemed to fear people that weren’t
like them. A lot of the locals believed
that people were dangerous if they didn’t look like, act like, and believe like
them. I wanted to put these beliefs to
the test.
I have never had the ability to believe people simply based
on their opinion or their thoughts. I
have always wanted proof. Heck I got
into trouble more than once in middle school and high school for debating teachers. I didn’t believe that I was smarter than
them. I just wanted proof from time to
time.
Athletics have led me all over the world. I have met people from countries around the
globe, and I am yet to meet a group of people that frightened me. As a matter of fact I often find way more
similarities than differences. Last
night Coach Vinh, Coach Sean Waxman, and I ate with a group of lifters from
England. It was the most amazing
time. I felt like I was eating with
characters from “Harry Potter”. I loved
it. I guess I just exposed the fact that
I love “Harry Potter”. Yeah it’s true.
For all of you athletes out there aspiring to compete
Internationally someday, I hope that you realize that there is something much
more special about the opportunity than simply competing. It’s the experience of coming together as a
Planet. It’s realizing that we are all
so similar. Sports have the unique
ability to spread this understanding of one another.
Look I am not some overly optimistic kid right out of college. I get it.
We live in a world filled with some good and some bad people. As long as there is money and power to be
had, governments and powerful people will try to get more than their
share. Ultimate power corrupts
ultimately! That doesn’t mean that all
the rest of us have to succumb to the same evil.
Athletics has blessed me with the ability to travel all over
the world. I thank God for that
opportunity. Last night when the
athletes from England told me that people in England used my programming, I
realized the opportunity that God has given me.
Who would of thought that a boy from the mountains of North Carolina
would have people from around the world reading his books and using his workout
programs? I never dreamed that this
would be possible.
My goal is to show the rest of the world that people are all
the same. None of us are really that
different despite what you might hear on television or worse Facebook. Today a guy from Iran passed me the ketchup,
and we exchanged the universal gesture of kindness, a smile. In that small moment, I realized that all the
negative things that I have heard about Iranians are false. They are people just like me. They have dreams and hopes just like me. They have sons and daughters, moms and dad, and
wives just like me. Today I pray to God
that He gives us all the ability to love one another just like He commanded
multiple times in His word.
Some of you might know that we opened the doors to L.E.A.N.
Fitness Systems this past Monday. We
wanted a gym where all would be welcome.
A place for all to reach their goals, and I believe that we have done
just that.
If you are looking for weightlifting, general fitness,
athletic performance, boot camps, or powerlifting, you can email us at:
รจ
Chris@tfw-WS.com
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