He sat in the sand, laughing as it poured through his prosthetic legs. Then, without a word, he tossed them aside and ran into the water—strong, graceful, unstoppable. I realized I’d been holding him back with my fears.
A local coach spotted him and offered training. My first instinct was to say no, but I remembered his freedom in the water. “Alright,” I whispered. “We’ll try.”
He trained hard, faced skeptics, and kept going. At a big meet, he dove in without prosthetics—and broke the regional record. He turned to me, medal in hand: “See? I told you.”
Even when his coach fell ill, he didn’t quit. At nationals, he won first place, dedicating it to her. Through it all, he stayed grounded, still laughing, still pouring sand through his prosthetics.
He taught me the most important lesson: courage isn’t about being fearless—it’s about being unafraid to be yourself.
