Wednesday, December 20, 2006
A Christmas Miracle Wasted?
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"Barbaro is not dead." Or, "How Barbaro saved Christmas." Perhaps a last-minute decision will change it to "Barbaro: Why he's better than all of us." I'm still working on the name of the Barbaro Christmas special as I figure it's only a few more years until it debuts, inevitably replacing Rudolf, Frosty, and Charlie Brown as the greatest Christmas story since the birth of Christ.
After all, Charlie Brown may have shown us the true meaning of Christmas, Rudolf may have inspired underdogs everywhere, and Frosty made kids everywhere believe that invisible friends were an adequate social acquaintance, but Barbaro is a walking Christmas miracle. At least, that's what his followers would have you believe.
From the Barbaro message board (names have been changed to prevent any undue embarrassment:
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Beautiful Barbaro, I love you and am extremely proud of how well you are doing. BARBARO: OUR CHRISTMAS MIRACLE... - Monique
Dearest Barbaro, You are truly the world's Christmas miracle and Christmas blessing. You give the whole world a reason to believe in miracles... - Bernice
Oh Sweet, Sweet B. So thrilled to hear you are doing well. You are indeed a Christmas miracle. We will all celebrate with you when you finally frolic in the grass. - Anfernee
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On the surface, it's easy to look at those messages and laugh. It's simple to shrug them off as crazed fans who are a little too devoted to the object of their affection, much like 13-year-old girls and Orlando Bloom. But what if they are right? What if it's true? What if Barbaro really is our Christmas miracle?
Imagine that some higher power somewhere actually granted someone one miracle. And that genius decided to waste his miracle to heal a freaking horse. Not to find a cure to cancer, not for world peace, not even to convince Scarlett Johansson to pose in Playboy (all things that would bring the world more joy than Mr. Ed's recovery). If that's the case, then the world doesn't have a reason to believe in miracles, but would have a reason to believe in morons.
What if it wasn't someone recklessly spending a miracle? What if Bernice is right and this really is the world's Christmas miracle? Whoever it is that is in charge of presenting the world with a miracle every Christmas clearly dropped the ball. That's the best they can do? Why give the entire world something that can only be enjoyed by women between in the ages of 30-65 and live in the continental United States?
Even if the world's Christmas miracle was wasted on a horse, at least it does provide us with an inspirational, heartwarming story about courage.
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Millions care about you, your owners and doctor. You have become one of the great stories of our time - Molly
You are a horse of extraordinary courage and spirit... Leslie
Hay Big Boss Top Horse! Loved that wonderful report card you got Tuesday! Way to go, you Big Beautiful Handsome Hunk!...You are so inspiring! - Lacy
Has Barbaro become one of the great stories of our time? Let's review the facts. He won some races, broke his leg, and stood around for a couple months. His owners said that they would "let him go" as soon as he felt any pain. So, in conclusion, he became inspiring and courageous through a combination of not dying and combating boredom.
It appears one of the great stories of our time is also extremely boring. If it was a made-for-TV movie, it would involve a lot of standing around and very little in the way of action or dialogue. Perhaps it could be part of a series, with part 2 being "The day it was supposed to rain really, really hard...but then didn't rain at all!!!"
So maybe Barbaro isn't the most inspirational figure around, but does he still have lessons we can learn from?
Every athlete should learn a life lesson from Barbaro and what TRUE GREATNESS is: it is NOT just skill and being a celebrity. I am profoundly affected by this courageous story as are so many - Jen
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Athletes get paid millions of dollars to play games. Granted, the training and the performance in the game is physically punishing, but it beats digging ditches. Imagine if they could just skip the physically punishing part and proceed straight to the part where they are remembered as courageous, inspiring, and heroic for doing absolutely nothing. Evidently, true greatness isn't just skill and being a celebrity, it's also getting thousands of people to celebrate you for simply existing.
And really, isn't that what Christmas is all about?
Miracle? I think it was the hard work of the vet and staff as well as the owner's willingness to spend the money. How many horses would still be alive today if their owners pere in a position to do what Barbaro's did? When you consider the behaviour of so many humans now a days, I think that Barbaro is much more deserving of a miracle but I just don't believe it was a miracle he survived. My appreication goes to the people who worked so hard to save him.