Chuck Aoki: Does ‘inspire’ connote heroic or pitiable?

Wednesday, August 21, 2013 SPORK! 0 Comments

These are words we have all heard as Paralympic athletes, and most people in wheelchairs have as well.

And for most of my life, I have hated being called “inspiring.”

Being inspirational felt like it was something that should be reserved for children, or people in hopeless situations, who fight on regardless. I haven't considered myself to be in either of these categories, at least not since I've been above the age of 15.

As such, I always took offense to being told I was “inspirational” by anyone, because it felt like this inspiration came out of pity toward me. And no one wants to be pitied, least of all Paralympic athletes.

But as I get older, I start to think more about being “inspiring” to people, and I've started to wonder, is it really such a bad thing to be inspiring?

I didn't set out to be inspiring when I began playing wheelchair rugby. My goal was to become the best I could be at it, and I've done fairly well at that.

I've faced a lot of unique challenges to get to this point, but never given up, despite how easily I could have. All Paralympic athletes have. For that matter all people with an impairment who stay active have.