London 2012 Paralympics began on Wednesday with an enlightening opening ceremony led
by Stephen Hawking, a famous British physicist who taught the world that physical disability
cannot impair the human potential.
Paralympics is the second largest muti-sport event that limits its participants to only disabled
athletes throughout the world.
The opening ceremony was inspirational and enchanting. Stephen Hawking’s famous Big
Bang Theory was recreated as he encouraged people to“Look up at the stars and not down
at your feet. Try to make sense of what you see and wonder about what makes the universe
exist. Be curious.”
Even after Stephen Hawking made his exit and the Queen had declared the official beginning
of the Paralympics, the appearance of significant scientific discoveries continued. The main
character of the opening ceremony, Miranda from Shakespeare’s well-known novel, the
Tempest, encountered various books, solar panel, and Isaac Newton’s apple which improved
and transformed our ways of thinking and living now-a-days. Especially when Newton’s
apple appeared, the crowd showed its deep admiration to Newton and his law of gravitation
by taking a bite of an apple that was provided to each attendee.
During three hours of instructive and inspirational ceremony, Bradley Hemmings and Jenny
Sealey, directors of the opening ceremony, did not forget to credit and to give hope to people
with disabilities. As Miranda sat on a wheelchair and broke the symbolic glass ceiling
thatrepresented the discriminations and obstacles that hinder disabled from getting a job and
being socially active, the opening ceremony celebrated its ending with a song called ‘I am
who I am’ by Beverly Knight.
Hoping to continue the global interest and sensation of the 2012 London Olympics, seven
thousand disabled athletes from 166 countries will compete for the national honor and world-
wide fame under the slogan of ‘Spirit in Motion.’
