Watching clips of Simone Biles spinning like a gyroscope on the uneven bars floors me. Well, to be fair, her floor routine is spectacular as well. But as I rejoin the portion of the human race that walks without thinking about it, I notice that her face seems like she never feels pain. 

 

Probably, she does. But they turn the cameras off when she is wrapping an ankle. Gymnastics floats in the intersection of flexibility and strength. It is remarkable, that one spine can be expected to achieve both. Simone draws on the suppleness of her joints as well as the power in her limbs to bound up to the beam, and whirl across the mat. 

 

Life seems bent on asking me to be both steadfast and yielding. Maybe I will ask Benjamin to make a Venn Diagram about it. Holding tightly to my ideals feels like a full time job. But then a circumstance arrives that requires that I let go of that grip, at least with one hand, so that I might catch someone's fall. 

 

God designed the body well. The femur plays her part, and the hip joint plays hers. Not in conflict with one another, but with respect. 

 

Logic might argue that standing firm and bending cannot agree. Yet there she is. Or rather, there she goes.