When I stepped into my first SO event (a judo division session) I noticed a girl with intellectual disabilities coming from Syria, am my mind could not avoid swirling around the image of minors exposed to a perilous fate only because born on the wrong side of the map.

But what does the destiny of thousands of humans escaping war or climate change threats have to do with Special Olympics?

TAKE THE RESPONSIBILITY I went on to watch a football game, Slovenia trashing Germany 4-0 to the disappointment of the local supporters. In fact, at the end of the game, the German fans cheered their players as if they had won. But something else caught my imagination the most. During the game, one German player missed an easy pass conceding his next Slovenian opponent to score an easy goal. The German guy spent the next minute gesticulating toward his teammates and the supporter while showing contrition for his mistake. In a few words, the guy publicly and irrefutably took responsibility for the wrongdoing. No alibi. Not looking for a teammate who could (and actually should have…) warn him about the Slovenian player nearby. No scapegoats. Just him taking all the weight on his shoulder.

CARE ABOUT EACH OTHER I could go on telling you the story of a Badminton athlete from Taipei with a big smile on her face, correcting the referee's order to concede a couple of points to her opponent (ending up losing the game). Or maybe I could narrate the story of a bunch of Chilean hockey players running like hell toward a French opponent who fell on the ground apparently in pain just to check her wellbeing (forgetting completely about the game).

This is what Special Olympics is about, a micro world populated by human beings who care about each other, have the highest sense of ethics and respect for the rule and – most importantly– can take responsibility for their wrongdoing.

THE REAL HUMANITARIAN EFORT Back to the migrants. I have now to provide a short script for my mini-doc about the migrant tragedy and I find myself short of ideas. I feel like I told this story so many times in my professional career and nothing has really changed. How many deaths do we need in order to make the public aware of this gigantic challenge in front of us? Tragedies like this have happened every week for over a decade, but who has ever taken responsibility for it?

Who really can make the most basic rules that are the fundamentals of human rights, respected? Who can finally show some real humanitarian effort in order to help these unfortunate human beings to find their place somewhere far from their predicaments?

THE SPIRIT OF THE SPECIAL OLYMPICS WORLD GAMES While deciding how and if I will be able to create a meaningful movie, I can only hope that more people around the world could experience what I did in my last week in Berlin, elbow to elbow with thousands of athletes with intellectual disabilities. I wish the whole world could absorb even a small percentage of the spirit that we can all breathe being part of these wonderful Games. It would help people in Governments to better understand the challenges they face daily and – maybe – it would encourage them to choose policies that can prevent tragedies like the one in Greece two weeks ago.

Responsibility. Ethics. Sense of justice. Solidarity. Unity.

For sure athletes at Special Olympics have intellectual disability, but it is an absolutely minor thing compared to the emotional disability the rest of the “mainstream” world is capable of.