It has been a week... a week in which many of us have mourned and continue to grieve .. the loss of our great champion, Barbaro. Most of us have never met this great athlete and magnificent horse.. most of us have never touched him physically, have never been in his presence, but most of us fell in love with him, remembering his incredible Derby win, where he flew to the finish.. were shocked at his tragic injury at the Preakness, and wept when the time came when his recovery was no longer a possibility.
He became the People's horse, and he belonged to all of us, just as if he were really ours!
But we wept not only for the loss of our hero who represented so much hope and courage to so many of us. We were stunned, in shock, in disbelief that the end had finally arrived for him, and yet, we all knew from the start that the odds were slim. Many of us remained in denial of this fact, which made it so much more difficult to accept his loss.
Yet, this morning, as all the mornings during the past eight months, as I thought about Barbaro, and the incredible love that I have for him, I thought to myself, that there is something even greater that Barbaro offered us during this long period of time that we became "intimate" with him during his hospitalization at New Bolton Center, and how eagerly we looked for updates on his condition and felt such joy at the daily messages "ACN" ( another comfortable night).
What Barbaro gave us, was the chance to see the best of humanity, as he reflected back to us, courage, strength, hope and the ability to connect on a profound level with others for a purpose.. to overlook differences, to feel the love that exists in this world of strife and upset for a moment, and to be able to reach out to others that we will never meet, either, in prayer and unconditional love to one another. We were able to touch each other in friendship and support.
It was an incredible gift that Barbaro gave to us. To diminish the impact that he has had on so many people around the world is a great injustice not only to Barbaro but to us.. who saw a bit of ourselves in Barbaro, and for a moment in time, were able to just be with one another in a moving and blessed way.
So while some people cannot understand the magnitude of our feelings and how deeply this experience has touched us, let us continue to connect with one another inpeace and love and strive for peace in the world. What we have seen in the mirror that Barbaro offered to us is the joy of love.. the possibility of true connection between humankind and all the potential for a world free of fear and hatred.
Sleep sweet, Barbaro.. our sweet one! You have gifted humanity immeasurably.
6 comments:
What a beautiful reflection on the memory of our Beloved Barbaro. He touched so many of us with his special power to fight, his magnificent beauty, and incredible talent. He was a special gift to us, if only for short while. He gave awareness to different organizations, and brought many people together for a great cause. His legacy will live forever, and his memory will be kept forever alive. He touched my life in so many ways. He taught me that it is possible to love something you never touched, or saw. But the love is very real, and I will always love, and remember him. Rest peacefully my sweet Barbaro, and know that you are forever remembered, and most of all, loved.
Hard to believe it has been a week already. Tribute is heart felt and warm, true to the beliefs of the author. She puts into words what most of us are unable to with such beauty and cmpassion. Thank you for helping us all share the same feelings.
It still hurts too much to feel these words. I know them in my head, but my heart is still too full of sadness at his passing to link them to my emotions at this time. I do know, however, that I got a whole bunch of Christmas cards from people I have never met with whom I chatted several nights a week at the AOL vigil. I had many of these same people sending me good wishes when I had some unexpected surgery in November. In addition, I am very involved in several people’s struggles with their illnesses and personal problems. All of this came about because of a racehorse that I had only seen on television. As we rallied around Barabro, we also rallied around each other. I have more wonderful people in my life now than before the Preakness. I will always miss Barbaro and wish that he could have lived, but I will never regret getting interested and involved in his story. Thank you so much Jo for all that you put into your journal. It is a site I visit every day.
He's probably flying across a pasture with Lost in The Fog, and my Flash Appeal. I miss them all terribly.
My love of horses has always been well-known among my students. I decorate my classroom with pictures of my horses, friends' horses, students' horses, horses out of magazines and calendar. They know from the first day warning that should any story we read have a horse in it, you can bet that one of the test questions over that reading will be something along the lines of "What was the name of Sir Gawain's horse?"
Last May, when Barbaro's picture went up on my El Salvadoran classroom bulletin board, my students were all asking, "Oh, Miss, is that your new horse? He is beautiful!" "No, that is the horse that won the Kentucky Derby this last weekend!" Then I explained about the Triple Crown races and told them that Barbaro was expected to win the whole thing. I reminded them to watch the race the day before the Preakness, and several of them did...much to their horror. When we came back into school on Monday, several said, "Oh, Miss, we are so sorry about your horse. Is he still alive?"
Last week, when I found out at lunch time that Barbaro had been eternally healed, I could still tell my students that Barbaro is still alive...alive in the hearts of all who loved him and who then, in turn, loved others who loved him. Like Kathy said in her post above, I have new friends who I care about deeply and who care for me; friends that understand why I cry over the loss of a horse I never really met. But as my students said last May, Barbaro was my horse, as he was the horse of countless others. Healed, Hoof, Healed; Run, Spirit, Run.
(by the way, Gringolet was Sir Gawain's horse!)
My hearts goes out to anyone who has losted their baby pets. I had to put mine to rest Nov 2006 due to fluids in her lungs that worsen and no matter what prescription we gave her, nothing helped. It was the hardest decision I had to make. She has been with me since 1991 when she was only 6 weeks old. She then left before her birthday camed around Jan 2007. Our beloved babies will always be around us. When you think about them there little souls will be around us healing our sadness and telling us "we are ok and young again."
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