If you’ve been anywhere near Facebook in the past week or so, you’re sure to have read someone’s opinion regarding Caitlyn Jenner. Many of these opinions have sparked heated debates across the incredibly ignorant world we call Facebook comments. People have seem to have given this ESPY award a lot of power this year. If ESPN, the world’s almighty sports network, named Caitlyn Jenner the most courageous person of the year, she must truly be the most courageous person!
She received the Arthur Ashe Courage Award for her battle with gender dysphoria and, more specifically, her public transition into life as a woman. Her courage is evident and inspiring to many dealing with the same struggle in their own lives. It came as a shock for many Americans (although the winner was announced weeks prior to the event) who have known Bruce Jenner as one of the greatest American Olympians ever, or for his television show with the Kardashians.
An ESPY award does not make her more courageous than the war veteran who lost both legs for his country. The Courage Award does not discredit Leah Still’s battle with cancer. It doesn’t mean anyone is more or less “courageous” than the other. The core problem with the award is that there should be no winner. There should be multiple individuals recognized for their own courageous battles in their own situations.
Say Jenner wasn’t involved at all. If Leah Still won the award, would people be up in arms about a little girl who beat out a wounded war vet? The point is, people need to relax. ESPN is trying their best to reel in viewers who aren’t everyday sports fans. They do this with events like the ESPYs. Throw down a red carpet, and let loose the celebrities! Give the award to a well-known figure outside of mainstream sports. They use emotional stories to capture audiences not normally reached by their programming. And it works. The ESPYs was one giant waterworks display for viewers — me included. Watching the story of Devon Still and his daughter battling her cancer together was absolutely heartbreaking. The Leah Hill story and the speech by her parents was beautifully inspiring and relatable to parents everywhere. Jenner’s speech was uplifting and will likely have a massive impact on trans equality globally.
What I’m getting at is this: an ESPY award doesn’t change the importance of any one story. They’re all incredible and moving. Get over it. Jenner being selected for this award doesn’t make her the supreme courage winner for all things courage. It’s an ESPY. She didn't win a Nobel Peace Prize.
The ESPYs is a wonderful cause that raises millions in cancer research through the Jimmy V Foundation each year. The individual awards themselves are insanely ambiguous and likely mean very little to most athletes. LeBron James won the award for Best Championship Performance. His reaction was predictable. He lost in the finals. He reacted the way he likely would have if he had won Finals MVP. He didn’t want either award. (Although he surely deserved both.)
Before you get on Facebook and look to start an argument for something as ambiguous as courage, think about what you’re doing. Your opinion, no matter how well-informed, does not hold superiority over someone else’s opinion. That’s why they’re called opinions and not facts. Every one defines courage in their own way and every single contestant for that award was no doubt courageous beyond measure. Courage is an umbrella that encompasses many different battles with many types of varying hardship.
Let’s stop bickering about who was more courageous and recognize them all for their own individual battles. They all deserve it.
