As they made the final turn into the home-stretch, two runners had left the others far behind. Striving side by side, it was anyone's guess which of the two hard charging teenagers would get to the finish line first. Then the girl on the inside tripped and fell, making the other runner a certain victor.

But that's not what happened. When the sure winner saw her rival go down, she did something startling, something no one watching had ever seen before. She quit the race and ran back to help her fallen comrade, who as it turns out, was not hurt. Meanwhile all the other runners passed them and finished the race.

Hardly anyone noticed who won. That's because all the eyes were on the two girls at the head of the stretch. Smiling and laughing, they resumed running, locked arm in arm. And when they finished together, tied for last, the crowd greeted them with the loudest applause of the day.

This incident happened years ago during the special Olympics competition, conducted for young people with learning disabilities.

Wouldn't it be nice if the girl who gave up glory to help someone else could teach us all to see things as clearly.