They ALL get the Gold...

So the weather turned out to be great, and the Special Olympics were held as scheduled. If it were up to me, I'd have given gold medals to everyone involved! They were definitely all winners; participants, supporters, spectators. (Ok, maybe there was one participant's mom I could have awarded a black eye to for sheer idiocy, but thats a bl ITCH I'll maybe bl OG about later!) Other than that, what a great event!

OK, that one little incident bothers me so much, maybe I'll pitch my bl ITCH sooner than later... one participant, who also happens to be a teen client where I work, happens to have some sort of learning disability. Nothing severe, I believe, and you wouldn't know it unless you knew her fairly well. I believe she is in a learning support class. But, for some odd reason unknown to me, her mother MADE her not just attend the special olympics (which actually wouldn't be a bad thing in itself) - she made her participate, special olympics t-shirt and all! Now, I know the schools are trying to get students to be more tolerant of diversity in all its' aspects, which is all fine and dandy, but the reality is kids will still be cruel to each other - and there were plenty of her peers there volunteering for this event. And while I didn't see anyone being inappropriate (teasing anyone or whatnot) - what a great opportunity was created for that at some later date. What a dingleberry that mom was! Honey, can you spell "humiliation?"

OK, I'm off my soapbox. Like I said, overall, what a fantastic event. If you've never been, you should consider going. If nothing else, it will likely give you a renewed appreciation for your own blessings - something I know I benefit from now and then!