Today was my first full day at the Paralympic Games. Although I thrive on disorganization I decided to get an early start so that I wouldn't miss anything. I headed for the train station, took the requisite four escalators to get to my platform and waited for a train. Now, its not like I have a ton of experience with Greek public transportation but there seemed to be an unusual amount of people on the train and with each stop more and more piled on. The closer we got to the Olympic Stadium stop, the more packed the train got. Still in my morning haze, I didn't pick up on the age group trend… that is, till we arrived at the stadium stop.

The train station is about a hundred yards from the main security gates that allow access the majority of the venues. The last time I went through them it was dead, and I figured the same would be true today, not so. As the doors to the station elevators opened I was witness to what seemed to be an endless sea of kids. To be more precise it was a sea of little kids, big kids, short kids, tall kids, every kind of kid you can imagine-- screaming, shouting and generally freaking out. Fittingly Duran Duran's “Wild Boys” was blaring over the PA system. I don't think many of them had the slightest clue of what they would be seeing today. I just think they knew they weren't in school and that was enough to fuel their insane little bodies. Once I got past the “shock and awe” of what must have been upwards of sixty thousand Greek rug rats, I started to remember stories that friends had told me of the Sydney Paralympics--stories of filling the stands with thousands of school children. It all came together, these kids, every kid in Greece it seemed, were on school field trips to watch the Paralympics.

The whole scene of happy faces being lead around from wheelchair basket ball, to tennis, to track--the whole time clinging to a rope (at least that's what the teachers had intended) was pretty heart warming, on so many levels. First, my guess was that a large group of these children didn't for some reason or another have an opportunity to attend the Olympic events. The fact that, for five euros they were able to wander freely from event to event all day was pretty cool. Second, and more importantly, it seemed that the Paralympics was turning into an educational event for the host country's youth. Whatever preconceptions these kids had about disabilities before they walked through those security gates were changed forever after today. The people they saw today weren't like Grandma or Grandpa in a wheelchair--they were athletes, winners, and to an extent, celebrities (I saw a lot of autograph signing). The next time these kids see a curb cut out or a wheelchair ramp it will have a whole new meaning. Aside from the obvious excitement these kids were feeling, I'm sure that some of these wheelchair athletes have never competed in their sport to a NHL size crowd. Everyone wins.