Tuesday, November 29, 2005
My hero's ....
At this stage in my life one might think that I would have outgrown having heros.This may be true in some ways,but there are still some heros in my life.
These are really people that I admire because of what they have accomplished in life. They have done things that show them to be of special character because they have beaten tremendous odds and they have made the world a better place in which to live. I am fortunate because I know two of my three heros personally.
The first hero I would like to mention is the only one I don't know personally. But, Lance Armstrong is a hero to me because I know from caring for other persons who were as sick him, what a tremendous effort it took for him to come back, His victories in the Tour De France were tremendous indeed. As a road cyclist of sorts I know how much work and suffering it takes to ride at the level of any pro tour cyclist. I have a quote from Lance on my desk at work."When I am suffering with pain (insert your own thing you are suffering from ) I know that eventually it will end and the pain will go away. But if I quit it will last forever." A good thought. His victories are really fantastic. But his biggest feat is his dedication to fighting cancer. He is truly making the world a better place because of his life.
The second person who qualifies as a hero to me is Rev Elder Troy Perry, founder of Metropolitan Community Churches. Rev Troy was thrown out of the churches in which he grew up and had become clergy.
He never lost his faith in God, but he lost his faith his church.
He decided, at God's urging, to start his own church where all would be welcome.
So on October 6, 1968 12 people met in Troy's living room for the first service of The Metropolitan Community Church. Today there are about 300 Churches in 43 countries world wide! Each Church is different in many ways, but one thing they all have in common is that they welcome all people to worship there regardless of their sexual or gender orientation.
But if that's not enough of a legacy, Troy did more. He was in the fore-front of the Gay Civil Rights movement. He marched in the front of the first rights/pride parades in the country. He led hunger strikes, he spoke at rallies, without his leadership all GLBTQ people today would still have to hide in the closet.
I have heard Troy preach several times and gotten to discuss things with him twice, and he is amazing! Although he is retiring as Moderator of MCC, I saw him about a month ago at a retreat and got to thank him personally for all he has done.
My third hero is someone I see daily. My roommate Dan was diagnosed with HIV/AIDS in 1991. As with most who became ill in that period his condition slowly worsened and in July, 1996 I had to put him in a nursing home. The doctors had told me that it was unlikely that he would ever see Christmas.
I managed to get him put on clinical trials for a class of drugs called protease inhibitors. In January, against the advice of his doctor I brought him home. He has had some brain damage from the virus and his attention span is kind of short but he was much to healthy to be kept in a home.
Four years later he heard of the Tanqueray's Texas AIDS Ride and decided that he wanted to ride in it. He had never ridden more than 20 miles at a time in his life, but he trained for 7 months throughout the Texas summer with 100+ degree days.
He had never been one to push himself really hard before, but this became his personal war with AIDS. I would come home from work in the afternoon and find him collapsed exhausted in bed from riding 80 miles or more in the heat.
The first weekend of October he rode from the Astrodome in Houston to the Kennedy memorial in downtown Dallas, 350 miles in 4 days on a mountain bike! I still get tears in my eyes when I look at the picture of him at the closing ceremonies holding his bike over his head in triumph.
He still doesn't work, but he does do volunteer work for HIV/Aids organizations in the Dallas area. Riding the bus everywhere for transportation since he is unable to drive. And everywhere he goes, he tries to spread good cheer and God's love to those he meets. So Dan is my third hero.
Heros come in all types. My heros are all people who have gone the extra mile in their lives to make the world a better place for others.
At this stage in my life one might think that I would have outgrown having heros.This may be true in some ways,but there are still some heros in my life.
These are really people that I admire because of what they have accomplished in life. They have done things that show them to be of special character because they have beaten tremendous odds and they have made the world a better place in which to live. I am fortunate because I know two of my three heros personally.
The first hero I would like to mention is the only one I don't know personally. But, Lance Armstrong is a hero to me because I know from caring for other persons who were as sick him, what a tremendous effort it took for him to come back, His victories in the Tour De France were tremendous indeed. As a road cyclist of sorts I know how much work and suffering it takes to ride at the level of any pro tour cyclist. I have a quote from Lance on my desk at work."When I am suffering with pain (insert your own thing you are suffering from ) I know that eventually it will end and the pain will go away. But if I quit it will last forever." A good thought. His victories are really fantastic. But his biggest feat is his dedication to fighting cancer. He is truly making the world a better place because of his life.
The second person who qualifies as a hero to me is Rev Elder Troy Perry, founder of Metropolitan Community Churches. Rev Troy was thrown out of the churches in which he grew up and had become clergy.
He never lost his faith in God, but he lost his faith his church.
He decided, at God's urging, to start his own church where all would be welcome.
So on October 6, 1968 12 people met in Troy's living room for the first service of The Metropolitan Community Church. Today there are about 300 Churches in 43 countries world wide! Each Church is different in many ways, but one thing they all have in common is that they welcome all people to worship there regardless of their sexual or gender orientation.
But if that's not enough of a legacy, Troy did more. He was in the fore-front of the Gay Civil Rights movement. He marched in the front of the first rights/pride parades in the country. He led hunger strikes, he spoke at rallies, without his leadership all GLBTQ people today would still have to hide in the closet.
I have heard Troy preach several times and gotten to discuss things with him twice, and he is amazing! Although he is retiring as Moderator of MCC, I saw him about a month ago at a retreat and got to thank him personally for all he has done.
My third hero is someone I see daily. My roommate Dan was diagnosed with HIV/AIDS in 1991. As with most who became ill in that period his condition slowly worsened and in July, 1996 I had to put him in a nursing home. The doctors had told me that it was unlikely that he would ever see Christmas.
I managed to get him put on clinical trials for a class of drugs called protease inhibitors. In January, against the advice of his doctor I brought him home. He has had some brain damage from the virus and his attention span is kind of short but he was much to healthy to be kept in a home.
Four years later he heard of the Tanqueray's Texas AIDS Ride and decided that he wanted to ride in it. He had never ridden more than 20 miles at a time in his life, but he trained for 7 months throughout the Texas summer with 100+ degree days.
He had never been one to push himself really hard before, but this became his personal war with AIDS. I would come home from work in the afternoon and find him collapsed exhausted in bed from riding 80 miles or more in the heat.
The first weekend of October he rode from the Astrodome in Houston to the Kennedy memorial in downtown Dallas, 350 miles in 4 days on a mountain bike! I still get tears in my eyes when I look at the picture of him at the closing ceremonies holding his bike over his head in triumph.
He still doesn't work, but he does do volunteer work for HIV/Aids organizations in the Dallas area. Riding the bus everywhere for transportation since he is unable to drive. And everywhere he goes, he tries to spread good cheer and God's love to those he meets. So Dan is my third hero.
Heros come in all types. My heros are all people who have gone the extra mile in their lives to make the world a better place for others.
