Caring
My name is Bridget
Burckell and I swim for the YMCA Rappahannock Stingrays in Fredericksburg
Virginia. I have the honor today to
speak to you all for a few minutes about caring.
Leo Buscaglia, an
author and professor at the University of Southern California once said, “Too
often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening
ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the
potential to turn a life around.”
A few months ago I
had the eye-opening experience of just exactly what it meant to truly care
about another human being…
It was a cold,
rainy night in January. One of my
teammates and I carpool everyday in order to share the load of driving the 30
minutes it takes to get to swim practice.
Well, unfortunately on that gloomy night, it was my turn to drive. After a long, hard practice Alina and I
hopped in my car to drive home. Both of
us were exhausted, and the pouring rain made it almost impossible to see what
was ahead. About 20 minutes into our
drive I log control of the car as it hydroplaned back and forth across the
road. Before I could realize what was
happening, the car had flipped upside down three times into the ditch. Although my car was completely totaled and
we had to spend some long hours in the hospital, both of us luckily walked away
from the accident practically unscratched.
The next day, many
of my teammates had heard about the accident.
I received lots of phone calls from worried friends, big hugs at school,
and even some cards that simply said, “I am so glad that you are OK”. We had a high school swim meet that evening,
and my year round coach, Pete Maloney, also showed up to check on us. My high school teammates gladly did
everything they could to re-arrange all their events to help us deal with some
small injuries. Even though we were
both exhausted from the long night and sore from the accident, Alina and I were
able to swim the meet and help our team defeat our rivals. It didn’t take long for me to look around the
pool deck that night and see all the people who had been worried about me… I
saw that they truly cared.
Although many of us
swimming today have never met or seen each other before, there is something
that we all have in common. All of us
are surrounded by coaches, teammates, family, and friends who care about us…
and for that I am very grateful.
Please bow your
heads with me for a moment of prayer.
Dear Lord,
Thank You so much
for bringing us all together today, surrounded by all the people who care about
us. Thank you for giving us all the
talent and dedication it took just to be able to compete today. Please help us all to swim our best … and no
matter whether we win or lose, please help us all get out of the pool with a
smile on our face knowing that we cared enough to try.
Amen.