Together we win

Sometimes people come into your life and you know right away that they were meant to be there, to serve some sort of purpose, teach you a lesson, or to help you figure out who you are or who you want to become. You never know who these people may be – a roommate, a neighbor, a professor, a friend, a lover, or even a complete stranger – but when you lock eyes with them, you know at that very moment they will affect your life in some profound way. But sometimes inspiration comes from people you don’t really expect would inspire you. And those are the ones that leave the deepest impact on you.

I was in 3^rd year of my graduation. The college had organized a sports meet and I was the member of student organizing team. IIT Delhi being a reputed college, the sports meet had to be a big event. As our side events, we decided to organize some events for physically disabled children from a nearby school. We thought it would be best to organize it along with the opening ceremony, otherwise gathering audience for the event would have been problem. Turned out that it was the best decision we took.

After the march past of all the participating colleges and a speech by our institute director, a 100 meter race was scheduled for the disabled kids. Nine contestants, all physically or mentally disabled, assembled at the starting line. All the college students were waiting eagerly for best march past award to be declared. The stadium was jam packed. We thought that it would turn out as an encouragement for the kids to perform in front of such a large audience.

At the gun, they all started out, not exactly in a dash, but with a relish to run the race to the finish and win. All the participants slowly started running, the best they could do, except one boy who stumbled on the asphalt, tumbled over a couple of times, fell down and began to cry. The other eight heard him, slowed down and looked back. Every one of them stopped running, before any volunteer could reach the boy to assist him, they all went back to him. One girl with Down's syndrome bent down and kissed him and said, "This will make it better."

They slowly picked the boy up and consoled him. Then something happened that none of us really expected. All nine linked arms and walked across the finish line together. Everyone in the stadium stood, and the cheering went on for several minutes.

The aim of organizing the race was to give those little kids some confidence, but rather they taught us a lesson. There are things which matter more than winning. What truly matters in this life is helping others win, even if it means slowing down and changing our course. They taught us all to win together.