Silken Laumann On “Unsinkable”

Sportsmen & sportswomen are human too. Already an iconic figure in the sport of rowing, Canadian athlete Silken Laumann inspired many by winning a bronze medal at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics despite having had a horrific & serious injuries to her leg just a few weeks prior! The collision with another rower’s scull was so serious that it shattered her right ankle and shredded her calf muscles in that you could see the bone but five operations and a total stay in the hospital of approximately three weeks, Laumann was back on the water training by late June. Her efforts paid off with a bronze medal, and she was subsequently named Canadian of the Year by the Canadian Club in recognition and was selected to carry the Canadian Flag in the closing ceremonies of the Olympics.

This year, age 49 Silken had published her book Unsinkable which focuses on her life & troubled childhood and also opens up in particular about the terror she felt and the verbal and physical abuse she experienced at the hands of her troubled and erratic mother, abuse that caused her feelings of unworthiness she battles to this day. She says this book took 5 years to write and came about as she did open up bits of her life during her long stint as a motivational speaker . Here is an interview with her by Fiona Forbes on The Rush.

Overheard Conversation

Have you ever eavesdropped on a conversation you weren’t supposed to? Tell us about a time when it was impossible not to overhear a conversation between people who didn’t know you were there. What was the conversation about? How did it make you feel?

I can’t think of that many or any that were scandalous or earth-shattering but I remember once at a former place or work I overheard someone say lies and complain about me and some other colleagues. At the work place we had the men’s bathroom with 4 closed stalls and a few urinals and I always use a stall even if I only need to pee, for privacy. So I had just entered the stall and was about to unzip or just had when I heard 3 junior employees come in and one of them was talking very loudly.

This asshole lied to the other 2 guys and said that it was easy being me and any of the members of my department because we hardly did any work and yet we got paid a lot more than they did. He said that whenever he checked we were in the cafeteria. Which was so incorrect because for that month I hadn’t used the cafeteria as I was availing the food at a small canteen next to our office building for lunch. So it had been atleast 4 to 5 weeks since I had even stepped into the office cafeteria and among the colleagues of my department that I was in, the same went for 2 others. And this guy went on lying his ass off but the other two were not buying it and instead they were defending us. They told the guys who was ranting to shut up and not simply spread lies about other people and said that me and the others in my department were actually helping them.

I was so angry and fuming with rage inside the stall that had I come out I would have yelled all out at that asshole moron for trying to spread lies about me and others. I was happy though that 2 others are better opinion of us and hence calmed down a little and waited for a few minutes after they left to exit the bathroom. I informed my friends about what happened and we decided to just let it go as the dude was indeed just being a jackass and we had better work to do.

Prompt from the Daily Post at WordPress.com.