I’ve seen a lot of things in my life. Over the Thanksgiving weekend, while channel surfing, I saw something that inspired me. It was a contest between disabled athletes. Some had one leg and others had both legs missing. Many had prosthetic limbs and raced on the available limb. Those with both limbs missing were racing on specially designed cycles that could be pumped by hand.
My inspiration was to try to donate to these athletes. They were with an organization for disabled Athletes, called C.A.F., a acronym for Challenged Athletes Foundation. Watching the Athletes of C.A.F. was quite an uplifting event, as I am putting myself through therapy from my recent stroke. One event they were doing on the Sunday I watched was competing to conquer South America’s lowest to highest rugged mountain peddling on cycle and climbing on foot and hands. It was quite a challenge. I also watched the promotions for St. Jude’s which is a research hospital to fight childhood cancer. Watching them almost brought me to tears to watch infants and toddlers fighting cancer. I found myself trying to find something in my budget to give to St Jude’s, especially for their youth anti-cancer movement. If your church or your other organizations are looking for a project to donate to, I suggest you consider these two causes. These two causes relate to conditions of young people that were not caused by anything the person has done, rather they were born with or subjected accidentally with a physical or medical condition they must conquer or try to survive with. An example of how successful you can be, in spite of a disability was Franklin Delano Roosevelt who rose to the Presidency of The United States, in spite of his inability to walk because he suffered from Polio. Michele Obama often tells about her father who suffered from Muscular Dystrophy, and yet never complained and continued to go to work every day and was never late. The actor, Michael J. Fox, has continued his acting career, in spite of suffering from Parkinson’s disease. We should not forget the Special Olympics which was started by the Kennedy family to help the disabled, of which their family was full of, in spite of their achievements. All of these are true examples of success, in spite of a disability, and should serve as examples for us to support those in need and who can use our help. Being black in America has been a sort of disability, and we have survived and achieved from our 1619 beginnings to today, where we have moved from the outhouse to the White House. We have moved from the slave house to the White House as President and Vice President elect. I can only say, “Yes we Can” all make it with a little help. |
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