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Transcending limits

(China Daily)
Updated: 2008-09-08 07:27

From our very first glimpse of the Paralympics, we saw what they meant by "equal splendor". All questions thereof are answered, in a graceful, romantic, and cheerful way.

If you missed the opening ceremony of the 2008 Paralympics, make up for it. Little doubt you will love the outstanding visual aspects. It was a rare piece of art you will not see for quite some time from now. But it is not mere eye candy. You will see more than fancy fireworks, mesmerizing theatrical effects, and fabulous music and dance.

From its carpeted floor to half ceilings, from the lights to the stages, there were lots of blue in sight. But there was blue everything except blue devils on Saturday night at the Bird's Nest. There was no place for melancholy.

Just as the directors put it, it was an ode to life in fairytale style. Or a Chinese tribute to life and its boundless possibilities, narrated in a language transcending differences, political, cultural, or linguistic.

If there were tears, they were tears of admiration, not of sorrow, or sympathy. The concept of "transcendence, integration and equality" got its best possible graphic illustration in the packed stadium.

More than 400 people with disabilities performed. But from start to finish, what we saw were the boundless potentials of body and mind, instead of limitations, as well as passion for life.

The usual sense of pity and loss had no place in it. The spiritually empowering show escorted us to a feast of pure joys and hopes.

We felt them. When the celestial voice of the visually-impaired singer poured out his longing for sight of the world and people around. When the 320 ladies with hearing difficulties danced, in elegant white gowns, to the movement of sign-language teachers. When pleasant notes in praise of the beauty of the seasons arose from the fingertips of the young pianist, for whom the world is complete darkness. When 750 pairs of nimble hands in white gloves turned into a sea of flying swans, petrels, and seagulls above blue water ...

For many of us, the 12-year-old ballerina was a pleasant surprise. We all know her. The nation witnessed the abrupt and brutal end to her dream of becoming a ballet dancer. With one leg lost to the devastating Wenchuan earthquake, that prospect seemed gone forever.

But it came back to life last night, and came true. We saw her in "Never Ending Dancing".

Limbs can be taken away, but never dreams. What can be more telling than this?

And the entire opening ceremony was crowned and wrapped up in a defining moment of fortitude and tenacity. In 220 seconds, the wheel-chaired last torch bearer had to pull himself 60 meters above ground to light the cauldron, all by hand. There was a brief pause and sign of fatigue, but he managed it, to thundering applauses brimming the stadium. Was it not transcendence?

Many have again resorted to the word "grandeur" in describing the Paralympic opening. But this time, it is more about the grandeur of humanity.

(China Daily 09/08/2008 page4)