The Brownlee brothers deserve recognition. At the Triathlon World Series finale, they demonstrated to the world an act of sacrifice. (Video can be seen here). As they were coming to the end of the race, Jonny Brownlee had a strong lead to easily win but his body began to give out due to the heat and fatigue. Right behind him was his brother, Alistair, who had the opportunity to overtake his brother and easily win the race. Instead, he gave up this opportunity to not only aide his brother but to also carry him to the finish line. While in the act, they were surpassed by the man in third place, Henri Schoeman. Alistair carried his brother all the way to end of the race and pushed his struggling brother into second place. The man from South Africa would go onto to win the gold medal in the race however the Brownlee brothers won moral medal.

To understand why the actions of Alistair were a sacrifice, the concept of the training needed to complete a triathlon needs to be broken down. A triathlon starts off with 1.5 km swim, followed by a 40 km cycle, and finishes with a 10 km run. For many, the simple completion of triathlon is enough to call it an accomplishment. For the men in this race though, this is their life. In the triathlon world, they are the best of the best. Just a month ago, the Brownlee brothers won the gold (Alistair) and silver (Jonny) medals for Great Britain. Hence, to give up the chance to claim the gold at one of the most pristine triathlons is a hell of a sacrifice. All the training completed and suffered through to get in that position and to let slip away to help your brother is something insane. It is like conceding the winning goal in the World Cup final or allowing the winning touchdown in the Super Bowl with the simple reason to help the competition out. It is something worthy of looking at and learning from.

Flip to the news on your television or open up social media on your phone and they are filled with one common thing. The usual "people dragging each other down in order to make themselves feel better" ordeal. The world plasters us with fights, violence, and inhumane acts. The events at the end of the World Series Triathlon finale are the ray of sunshine that needs to fill our world. The Brownlee brothers validated that in our lives we encounter people who are struggling to deal with their daily lives. Instead of being spectators and moving around them, we need to reach out to the person and help them fight their daily challenges. Yes, like Alistair, we will have to sacrifice. It does not have to be something huge, it can be something as simple as words of encouragement or a pat on the back to push the person in the right direction but they will appreciate the uplifting actions. By aiding others instead of ignoring them, we can eliminate all the destructiveness in world which unfortunately we are currently overrun with.