Recently I read a very touching story of Polish javelin thrower Maria Andrejczyk who auctioned her silver medal won at the Tokyo Olympic games, in order to help an eight-month-old infant in her country get heart surgery at Stanford. The 25-year-old sold her medal, which was her first Olympic medal for $125,000. The medal was auctioned to Zabka, a polish supermarket chain, who went on to do something heart-warming and graceful – they returned the medal to Andrejczyk !

These two acts of human compassion and grace exemplify the essence of life.

Her medal no doubt brought her fame and success, but Maria was willing to use her success for a higher purpose, beyond personal glory. We often get stuck in our success and miss out on opportunities of making a difference in someone’s life. Our true success is not just in achieving, but in our willingness and ability to make a sacrifice to make a difference.

Training and winning the medal must have meant the world to her, and yet, in being willing to part with the medal she makes us realise that our possessions do not define us. We are defined by the choices we make and the lives we touch.

She herself had battled a shoulder injury and cancer few years ago and came out strong, winning at the highest level. And yet, her act of compassion reminds us that the depth of compassion gives the height of success a completely different meaning.

And her sacrifice, compassion, and love were responded to in equal measure by the grace of Zabka, giving her medal back. In winning the auction, they demonstrated their support for a cause and their support for an act of compassion, and yet they were mindful of what the medal meant for Maria. Zabka’s gesture truly defines what it means to be graceful in giving.

Compassion doesn’t take away from us being highly successful and being powerful doesn’t prevent us from being graceful. Both, Maria and Zabka realised that their true success and purpose was beyond winning the silver medal or building the largest retail chain. Real victory was in making a difference in the lives of people, starting with saving the life of an eight-month-old infant.

(Picture-Maria Andrejczyk winning the Silver at the Tokyo Olympics)