— Leave a Comment

Don’t Let Life Pin You Down- An Excerpt from Finish Strong

Finish Strong

"Don't Let Life Pin You Down"
An Excerpt from Finish Strong
By Dan Green

Kyle Maynard is a regular guy with a love to compete. He knows that to truly live you must set your sights on a goal and never give up. The fire that burns in his belly helped propel him to contend for the Georgia state high school wrestling championship in 2004. Not such a big deal you might say – except for the remarkable fact that Kyle has no arms or legs. He was born a congenital amputee – his arms ending at his elbows, his legs at his knees.

The first time I saw Kyle on an ESPN special (he won an ESPY award for the Best Athlete with a Disability in 2004) I was immediately struck by how normal he seemed. During the special, they showed Kyle doing all of the things that any other person or athlete would do.

He spoke with passion and conviction and he never left me with the impression that the world owed him anything. I was amazed to see him training hard, lifting weights – he has cannon balls for shoulders. Using a specially designed attachment, he was pushing more than double his own body weight. I was instantly inspired to learn more about this amazing person.

From the beginning, Kyle’s parents, Anita and Scott, were determined to raise a normal child. They insisted that he learned to feed himself and play with the other kids like any other child would do,

When Kyle saw other kids picking up crayons with their fingers, he learned to pick them up by using the crease in his short, but sensitive biceps.

His grandmother Betty was a source of inspiration and would often take him to the grocery store where she would instill a sense of confidence by encouraging Kyle to sit up and look folks in the eye and smile. He was fitted with prosthetic devices at a young age, but quickly dismissed them because they were too restrictive. He wanted to be free to run and play just like the other kids and those devices kept him from doing so.

Kyle led an active childhood. He played street hockey with his friends (he was the goalie) and in sixth grade was able to make the football team. Kyle hung tough on the football team, but his physical differences put him at a disadvantage against other players. Eventually, his father encouraged him to try another sport that would put Kyle on an even plane with his competition – wrestling.

Kyle started wrestling in sixth grade. He lost his first 35 matches in a row. During this period of time, Kyle had to dig deep to find the confidence to continue. Kyle however, was a warrior and he didn’t like to lose. With the support of his father, a former wrestler, he learned to train with weights, became very strong and learned some moves unique to his strengths. Kyle overcame the self-doubt he felt during his early wrestling days and became a winner. In his senior year, Kyle won 35 times on the varsity squad and qualified for the state championship. In the state tournament, Kyle won his first three matches and had to face his final opponent with a broken nose. Although Kyle did not win the state championship, he gained a level of self-confidence and became a source of inspiration for everyone that he met.

Kyle graduated high school and attends the University of Georgia, where he continues to wrestle and inspire others. As a member of the Washington Speaker’s Bureau, Kyle is regularly asked to give motivational talks. But what he has to say has little to do with his perceived physical differences. Rather, he talks of overcoming fear and doubt and what it takes to compete and win – just as any other champion would do. To this day, Kyle has never been pinned by an opponent. What a fitting metaphor for his life.

 

General Blog
— Leave a Comment

Pope calls for a new Pentecost to launch renewal of American Church

Apr 19, 2008 – Six thousand people flocked to St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York this morning for a Mass that Pope Benedict celebrated for clergy and religious. In his homily, Benedict XVI called for a new outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the Church in America so that it can overcome divisions and allow all of its gifts to be spent for the sake of spreading the Gospel.

After thanking Cardinal Egan for his welcome and recalling the examples of the pioneers of the Catholic Church in America, Pope Benedict turned to the first reading from the Acts of the Apostles.

“As we give thanks for past blessings, and look to the challenges of the future, let us implore from God the grace of a new Pentecost for the Church in America. May tongues of fire, combining burning love of God and neighbor with zeal for the spread of Christ’s Kingdom, descend on all present!” he exclaimed.

The Pontiff then pointed to the example of the late Cardinals Cooke and O’Connor whose “heroic witness to the Gospel of life” should inspire this kind of zeal. “The proclamation of life, life in abundance, must be the heart of the new evangelization,” the Pope said.

“This is the message of hope we are called to proclaim and embody in a world where self-centeredness, greed, violence, and cynicism so often seem to choke the fragile growth of grace in people’s hearts,” the Holy Father encouraged.

Pope Benedict said that the challenge in some ways is to bring this message of life in abundance to “a society where the Church seems legalistic and ‘institutional’ to many people.” The Church’s “most urgent challenge is to communicate the joy born of faith and the experience of God’s love”, he said.

He then turned the congregation’s attention to different aspects of the architecture of St. Patrick’s.

Noting how from the outside the stained glass windows appear dim but from the inside of the Church their true beauty is revealed, the Pope said, that communicating the joy and love of God “is no easy task in a world which can tend to look at the Church, like those stained glass windows, ‘from the outside’”.

Besides a spiritual conversion, Benedict XVI explained that an “‘intellectual’ conversion” is necessary to be able to discern “the signs of the times, and our personal contribution to the Church’s life and mission”.

“For all of us, I think, one of the great disappointments which followed the Second Vatican Council, with its call for a greater engagement in the Church’s mission to the world, has been the experience of division between different groups, different generations, different members of the same religious family,” Benedict said.

The solution to these divisions, the way to move forward, Benedict explained, is “if we turn our gaze together to Christ!” Turning away from division and towards Christ, is the way that true spiritual renewal will occur, the Holy Father said.

Pope Benedict once again brought up the sexual abuse scandal in the context of striving for unity.

“I would like say a word about the sexual abuse that has caused so much suffering. I have already had occasion to speak of this, and of the resulting damage to the community of the faithful. Here I simply wish to assure you, dear priests and religious, of my spiritual closeness as you strive to respond with Christian hope to the continuing challenges that this situation presents.”

Benedict drew attention back to the architectural structure to make his final point.

“The unity of a Gothic cathedral, we know, is not the static unity of a classical temple, but a unity born of the dynamic tension of diverse forces which impel the architecture upward, pointing it to heaven. Here too, we can see a symbol of the Church’s unity, which is the unity – as Saint Paul has told us – of a living body composed of many different members, each with its own role and purpose. For the Spirit never ceases to pour out his abundant gifts, to awaken new vocations and missions, and to guide the Church, as our Lord promised in this morning’s Gospel, into the fullness of truth.”

“So let us lift our gaze upward!” the Pope called out.

Calling on the Holy Spirit to help the Church grow in holiness, he added, “If we are to be true forces of unity, let us be the first to seek inner reconciliation through penance. Let us forgive the wrongs we have suffered and put aside all anger and contention. Let us be the first to demonstrate the humility and purity of heart which are required to approach the splendor of God’s truth. In fidelity to the deposit of faith entrusted to the Apostles, let us be joyful witnesses of the transforming power of the Gospel!”

Pope Benedict closed by calling on American Catholics to “go forth as heralds of hope in the midst of this city, and all those places where God’s grace has placed us. In this way, the Church in America will know a new springtime in the Spirit, and point the way to that other, greater city, the new Jerusalem, whose light is the Lamb For there God is even now preparing for all people a banquet of unending joy and life. Amen.”

General Blog Religion & Philosophy
— Leave a Comment

The Value of Devotion

The doctors told Dick Hoyt that his infant son Rick should be institutionalized. There was no hope, they said, of Rick being anything more than a vegetable.

Four decades later, Rick and Dick Hoyt have competed over 65 marathons, 206 triathlons and hundreds of other events as a father-son team. Rick, whose father was told he was incapable of intellectual activity, graduated from Boston University in 1993. The devotion of this remarkable pair to each other and their goals has enabled them both to accomplish things that neither would have done alone.

During Rick's birth in 1962, the umbilical cord wrapped around his neck, cutting off oxygen to his brain. Rick is a spastic quadriplegic, has cerebral palsy, and is unable to speak. Despite the doctors' grim prognosis, Dick and his wife Judy raised him at home and struggled to get him admitted to public schools.

Though Rick could not speak, his parents knew that he was just as intelligent as his siblings. Dick convinced a group of engineers from Tufts University to build a "communicator" for his son. By hitting a switch with the side of his head, Rick selects letters to form words and sentences.

Rick was attending public school two years later, when a five-mile benefit run was held for a local lacrosse player who had been paralyzed in an accident. Rick wanted to participate. Dick was not a runner, but agreed to push Rick in his wheelchair. During the run, Rick felt as though he simply wasn't handicapped anymore – he was just one of the runners. Wanting to give Rick this feeling as often as possible, Dick ran in an increasing number of events with his son.

As "Team Hoyt" began competing in earnest in the late 1970s, they were often treated as outsiders and avoided by other competitors. What began as a way for Rick Hoyt to experience inclusion and equality broadened. It became a way to send a message that, as Rick said, "everybody should be included in everyday life." The duo's first Boston Marathon in 1981 yielded a finish in the top quarter of the field, and attitudes began changing. "In the beginning no one would come up to me," recalled Rick. Now, he says, "many athletes will come up to me before the race or triathlon to wish me luck."

Dick has ran, ridden and swam literally thousands of miles to be with and support his son. This has enabled Rick to live a full and purposeful life – but it turns out that, in a way, Rick has saved his father's life as well. After a mild heart attack, Dick's doctors told him that he may have died 15 years ago if he weren't in such good shape.

Team Hoyt's total commitment to each other and to what they do ensures that they are constantly challenging themselves. In addition to their athletic events, the Hoyts tour the country to speak about their experiences. They have also established the Hoyt Fund, which is supports educational and technological efforts surrounding persons with disabilities. They anticipate running their 26th Boston Marathon in April.

General Blog