Cheering

I wedged my boot into the ridge of the hill and secured my cheering location. From my vantage point I could see the Nordic racers careening down the hill opposite me and then watch them climb and climb (and climb) right next to me. The woods lined the hill behind me providing good protection from the winter wind. I was in position to encourage our team up the hill with my positive, upbeat spirit. After all, I was standing and watching, and they were doing all the painful exertion!

It's easy to know how to cheer for some: go, good job, keep going, tempo, etc. And cheer I did. But as I stood waiting for skiers to appear and as I heard myself yelling, I started to wonder about what I was doing. Should I cheer for the racers flying down the hill or would it make them lose concentration? Should I cheer for the "other teams"? When someone falls, do I yell or stay quiet so they can concentrate on getting up? And then what about guy at the top of the hill vehemently yelling for the young girl to "get moving" when it is pretty obvious her pace will not increase if a bear wanted her for dinner. Should I cheer for him not to be cheering at all?

It is a funny concept, I think. Cheering. We cheer to win which means the silent cheer is for the other team to lose. We cheer to encourage yet sometimes it sounds like berating barrage of anger. We cheer to let the athlete know she is not alone.

What if we cheered for people all the time and not just the athlete trying to ski up a hill? If we really believe that cheering is an act of helping another person accomplish a goal, then we should be much louder in our daily lives. "Hey, great job managing your three small children and that huge cart of groceries through the piles of snow in the parking lot! You can make it! You can make it too once you get home, have to unload it all, and feed those hungry children. Great job. Keep going. Don't look back!"

Maybe it would be a bit obnoxious. Maybe a bit overdone. But I just wonder about all the energy we put into helping an athlete and if it is true that cheering helps, then what might happen to our stressed out, overburdened, financially strained society if we let one another know that we just have to keep putting one foot in front of the other and soon we'll be up that difficult climb? I just might give it a try. You?