What is more powerful than a personal story?

This morning I attended an All Pro Dad's breakfast with my two sons at their elementary school. I look forward to this event every month as it reminds me how important my kids are to me.

During this morning's event, the presenter told the story of Olympic sprinter Derek Redmond and what transpired during one of his events back in the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona.

As the story goes, Derek was about halfway through the race with the lead when he pulled a hamstring in his right leg. Of course this immediately took him out of the competition as all of the other competitors sprinted past him and crossed the finish line.

But instead of just lying down and giving up, Derek stood up and began limping towards the finish line, determined to at least finish the race he had spent the last 4 years training for.

As Derek struggled to move forward, his father pushed passed security and ran out on the track to catch up to his son. His father then put his arm around Derek and assisted him, step by step, to the finish line.

Touching story, right? So, is the point I am trying to make how a father always stands by his son? Nope. That's a given. The point I want to make is what happened next.

More powerful

Immediately after the presenter was finished telling the story, another father at my table held up his smart phone. He had already found the video on YouTube and asked if the rest of us at the table wanted to watch it. Obviously, we all agreed.

When the video was done playing, I had tears swelling in my eyes. As much as I was moved by the original story told by the presenter, the video took me to an entirely new emotional level.

And that is the point of this blog post. Technology has enabled us (and our children) to relive, in an instant, stories that happened years ago that we may have forgotten or that our children may have never even known about. And that my friends, is powerful.

Want to see if the same holds true for you? Start by reflecting on how you felt when you read my telling of the story above and then click the video link below. I intentionally did not embed the video to avoid people cheating and jumping straight to the video. When you are done watching, leave a comment and tell me if you felt a difference.

Video link: 'Perseverance' Derek Redmond