Determination

On December 5, 1963, an Olympian was born in the United Kingdom. Michael Edwards, who would become “Eddie the Eagle,” decided from an early age that he was an Olympian. Unlike most people who go to the Olympics and only then become an Olympian, Eddie decided he was an Olympian and then got to the Olympics by whatever means possible. He was not particularly gifted physically, but he had a drive that ensured he would find a way—and he did, as England’s only Olympic ski jumper in the 1988 Winter Olympics, where he finished dead last, ecstatic to have earned the title he always wore. In the same way that Eddie determined he was an Olympian first and then achieved the confirmation from the Olympic committee, we must determine that we will be neighbors to all others, separate from any determination by them.