“LOOK up at the stars, and not down at your feet," he said. And how could we not?
For that is surely what the Paralympics is all about, the sheer inspiration we can all get from those who overcome all manner of issues to reach for their own personal stars.
Anyone who saw Wednesday’s extraordinary opening ceremony for the London Paralympic Games must surely have been dazzled and moved as Lord Coe suggested we would be
But it was Prof Stephen Hawking whose very presence showed us the reality of the ceremony’s overall message.
“Try to make sense of what you see, and wonder about what makes the universe exist, “said the professor.
“However difficult life may seem, there is always something you can do and succeed at."
And those thoughts were echoed everywhere by flying wheelchairs, the extraordinary aerial dancers and a war veteran, a double amputee, who flew into the Olympic stadium on a zip wire.
Here was a message about creativity, about enlightenment and about perception. It couldn’t have been more powerfully or more simply put.
All we have to do to begin to understand others and what is going on in the wider world is to look and listen.
The key image of this opening ceremony was the archetypal English brolly whirling through rainy days before one giant umbrella caught the light to bring forth the big bang and with it the start of the universe.
Whirling brollies became boats, flying machines and then a wave of volunteers turned them into a giant eye, staring out at the stadium.
That eye allowed the world to share the magical journey of Miranda, a character from Shakespeare’s play The Tempest.
We saw that knowledge and understanding are the twin routes to technological advances and to lifting the barriers which prevent many disabled people from reaching their true potential.
What followed and what will continue for the next 11 days is a celebration of the life of the mind and not just of the body.
Be open minded, be curious and enjoy the remarkable riches of the human spirit.
