Coming up Gold...and Silver

When the Olympics come around, I pay attention to gymnastics. I was a cheerleader (shock, I know), so their sport is of much interest to me. I couldn't stay awake to watch the all-arounds last night, but was happy to see Gold and Silver hanging around the necks of 2 of our Olympic athletes this morning. (Full coverage will be on NBC tonight at 7 PM Central time).

In particular, while watching the Today show, I was thrilled to see the calmness and sense of security and happiness on the face of Shawn Johnson (Iowa native) who gave her teammate all the credit for winning the gold, and said she just wanted to give the performance of her life to finish her Olympic Games off well and that no matter how she placed, how her scores came out, that it turned out the way it was supposed to. She was meant to have silver. This, from a 16 year old. Maturity, humility, strength, and a beautiful face (though while made up for TV was NOT covered in too much make-up and looked very natural) from a young American girl. Shouldn't we all be proud of them? Whether we follow sports or not, whether we have much interest, we should all be proud of how these girls have presented themselves to the world. Sure, they are the elite, but they are also role models for our kids, our nieces and nephews, ourselves. Shouldn't we have as much dignity in our everyday lives? If they can present a united front to the world, while in the midst of intense competition, why can't we?