Morning SuperForest!
It’s that time again… time for your weekly shot of inspiration. Now I know by this point, some of you may be on to a running (pun intended) theme of my past Inspiration post — namely individuals achieving incredible physical goals that usually involve biking (biciclown), walking (Phil Packer), or running (Rosie Pope Swale).
Allow me to apologize in advance for posting yet again, another story of a person overcoming extreme physical obstacles. Though, truth be told, this is one of my all time favorite stories and I would be remiss for not including here. Especially since it involves walking, running, biking, all rolled together in one unbelievably inspiring man.
Meet JIM MACLAREN. Early twenties. All-American football star. Yale student. Aspiring actor. He’s tall, handsome, smart… the very pedigree of possibility, the embodiment of invincible youth. There he is, wind blowing back his McDreamy hair as he rockets his motorcycle down 5th avenue. The world pulsing beneath his feet, the future whispering sweet nothings in his ear. WHAM! In a second it’s over. A 40,000 pound bus lifting him high and clear, throwing him 86 feet off his motorcycle, tilting the world on it’s axis.
When he awakes, Jim MacLaren is a changed man. Pronounced dead on the scene, it’s a miracle he’s still alive. Though that’s not how it probably feels to a young man in his prime who, looking down, sees nothing but the phantom space where his left leg once was…
Okay, now I know you’re all smart, educated SuperForesters. You’ve heard this plot before… you’ve seen the heartwrenching, if corny, movie versions of the handicapped person who fights their way through intensive physical therapy, against all the odds and doctor’s skepticism to rise back up out of that wheelchair and… hallelujah — walk again! You may have even read my post last week about Phil Packer and his incredible battle to complete the London marathon. So you really don’t need me to tell you what comes next.
And yet… I guarantee you ain’t never heard a story quite like this one. Yes it’s true, over time, and with the use of a prosthetic leg, Jim rises from the ashes of disaster to his former athletic glory. He becomes a record breaking triathlete. He overcomes adversity. He feels whole again. Alive. The world has opened up again, the ground pulsing beneath the wheels of his triathlete bike, the future again whispering gently in his ear. And then, it happens again. This time, a van, bearing down, knocking Jim clear off his bike. The world flipped upside down again.
When he wakes in the hospital this time, Jim is paralyzed from the chest down. The Doctors tell him his paraplegic. He’ll never move his arms, let alone his feet again. Now, can you imagine… after all the hardship, the labor intensive physical therapy, the slow yet steady steps to recovery… after an accident that left you dead on arrival… to regain your stride only for it to be cut out from under you a SECOND TIME! It’s like a bad cosmic joke, only the laugh track is missing. It’s enough to break your heart. I can only imagine, if it was me, what it might do to my spirit.
But Jim MacLaren didn’t sink. He didn’t drown in despair. If he had bounced back once, he decided he could do it again. In his own words: “I am not my body. I am a man, and I am alive. As alive as anyone who is jamming a basketball, scoring a touchdown or hugging their child.”
And so he is back, having regained control of his upper body. And while his legs will never know the feel of earth pulsing beneath, the future still whispers to him. He has pulled the world, through the strength of his unsinkable spirit, back onto its axis
There is something so uplifting, at least to me, about watching people transcend the simple, yet often overwhelming limits of our bodies. Something I might take for granted, like climbing the stairs, can become the equivalent of Mt. Everest for a person in a wheelchair. At the same time, something that seems beyond my own capacity to accomplish — like running a triathlon or playing concert piano — is proven possible by someone with no legs or only 4 fingers. We all have our own personalized constraints that prevent us from achieving certain goals. Whether they are physical, psychological, mental, or a combination of them all… these people’s stories remind me of my favorite quote from my mother that has stuck with me through the years.
“There are so many things in this world that you can’t control. But the one thing you can is your Attitude.”
With determination, with will, and above all a constant and unwavering positivity, people like Jim teach us that impossible is nothing. That we as individuals are defined not by the adversity we face on a day-to-day basis, but more by the way we choose to face and ultimately overcome those obstacles.
Thanks Jim for the reminder.
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