Chester Borrows
More than half our Paralympians delivered personal bests to say nothing of the three world records set by KiwisI DON'T get much chance to hear talkback radio, but while the 2016 Paralympics were on, a call from a lady really made me think.
Her biggest problem in life was the fact, the frustrating reality, that nobody was taking any notice of her "No Junk Mail" sign on her letterbox.
It was a lengthy call on the vagaries of the advertising circulars arriving at her place.
The very next caller slam-dunked her with a quick "put it in the recycling bin and move on" before moving on to airing more important issues.
At the same time, the Rio Olympics were being followed by the Paralympics. Para-sport was on parade and it was great to see those 31 Kiwis doing their thing in that pinnacle of high performance.
The television coverage was electrifying and like a magnet to even the casual glance, revealing incredible performances that were the culmination of four, eight, 12 -- or sometimes more -- years of elite training, planning and sacrifice by the Paralympians. Literally blood, sweat and tears that none of us saw, but New Zealand finished up with 21 medals: nine gold, five silver and seven bronze and that's a first place on medals per capita.
These people put everything else in their lives to one side to concentrate on overcoming their disabilities, having prosthetic limbs fitted in some cases and then training and training.
Their stamina was outstanding (more than half our Paralympians delivered personal bests to say nothing of the three world records set by Kiwis), and their achievements incredible when you compare them with their able-bodied counterparts in terms of effort and stress on their bodies.
Sophie Pascoe is our most successful Paralympian ever, finishing 10th in the world for performance from among 4350 Paralympians.
Her reflection was insightful: "If they'd treated me as a little disabled kid who couldn't do anything, that's exactly what I'd be doing now -- nothing."
So without going on about the whole gambit of inspiring athletes (the Brownlee brothers were cool, too) let's think back to our lady with the unsolicited mail problem. I hope she has the recycling bin pulled up beside her letterbox.
New Zealand's blade runner Liam Malone, a double amputee, doesn't see himself as having a disability. "I'm basically missing my feet and that's made up with having two prosthetic limbs because of a general absence of the fibula bone."
We should be proud to live in an era where we are giving disabled people and their families greater choice over the lives they lead. After all that media coverage of a wonderful sporting event, and looking at what people can achieve against all odds, I hope many of us put a few more things in our lives into perspective.