Again I am posting an event that another one of my friends is getting involved with. My friend Melody Pence is pursuing her passion and following it through until the end. To see it through until the end she needs to raise $3,000 for her internship she was accepted to in Hawaii! I want to keep her address and her email private, but she is asking anyone who is willing to send checks payable to her as she embarks on her own desire to make this world a better place. Please support Melody. Email me if you want to send her money and I will get you all the information you need. Thanks so much!
Melody's message:
I recently have gotten accepted for an internship to work with dolphins at a facility called Dolphin Quest. During my stay there I will be teaching about conservation issues, effects on our environment, and raising awareness so that things like the oil spill do not happen again.
Dolphin Quest will be serving as a host facility to marine mammals that have been injured in the oil spill. While there I hope to help as much as possible with the oil spill in educating people about what can be done to limit this from happening in the future. I hope to inspire people through my work with dolphins so a change can start to be made. Resoures from the earth are being taken faster then they can be replenished. This is creating a great imbalance and this imbalance leads to natural disasters, like the oil spill, that wouldn't normally be happening. We need more clean energy programs that use less oil, not only will this protect our environment, but also ourselves. There is great attention needed here and I hope that through my endeavors I can be one of the few to make a difference!
In order to go I need to raise 3000 dollars. This is a non paid internship and purely from your help and solidarity can my dream come true of restoring the resources on earth that will propel us into a healthy, safe, and long living future. So please, please, please lend your support no matter how big or small and spread the word to family, friends, or colleagues. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
Joey Chestnut, who ate 68 hot dogs in 10 minutes last year, is considered an American Hero. This is what I heard on TV a day or two ago and just now had an opportunity to write out my thought on this fully. Hmmm.
Now I understand the importance of regaining what is, by all means, an American title considering the event is held on Fourth of July. Great for Joey to regain the title from a Japanese garbage disposal, but does this really constitute a hero?
This is a debate I keep trying to sort out in my head and here are my thoughts. While I can in a way see a parallel between the rigors of the hotdog competition and running a marathon (pushing yourself beyond your limits and doing something seemingly impossible to anyone else) I just think that other people are emitting the same determination and setting an example in so much more impactful ways.
I will always admire my closest friend Anuja, who provides housing and better quality living to female immigrant women, mainly of Indian descent. She deals with travesty on a regular basis, even death. She has witnessed beatings and goes out the next day and continues to fight. I have seen her cry because of the toll from her job, but the smile that comes afterwards is always brighter and so much more intense and vibrant. She is making a difference for other people and bettering their lives. To me, that is a hero.
My Uncle Ron, who lives with Parkinson's, is a craftsman by trade. The disease now requires him to use a cane, which the man carved and polished himself. If that isn't enough for you, despite his disease, he built a treehouse for his three grandkids. Nothing holds this man back. He is the one who taught me the meaning of Determination. My Uncle Ron is my hero and he always will be. And honestly, he should be many more people's hero as well.
I am not trying to diminish Joey's accomplishment. He has proven his strength by defending his title multiple times. I just wish that respect and admiration towards people who primarily put on entertainment for others could begin to be shared with those who primarily put countless numbers of people before themselves. There are so many people out there to be admired, looked towards and to learn from.
It's a huge motivational factor for me to pursue Determination. I don't want to be the only speaker. I want my uncle to share his story. I want to give Anuja the spotlight she deserves, even though she will try to deny it by saying that she is simply doing her job. People need to hear about the man who is in sales for a living, yet has so much passion for life that he trained to run an Ironman triathlon, and instead of celebrating himself at the finish line decided to hold up a huge sign proposing to his girlfriend.
There is more to life than sports. There is so much meaning in life and I just truly believe that needs to be shared. That is what is missing from life right now and as soon as that gets infused into our culture again, we will find ourselves thriving again...because we will again have found our reason and desire to further our passion, let that passion grow, and that will be the key to finally pulling ourselves out of this slump. To get out of a slump, we need a burst of energy to overcome the weight. We need passion, desire and a deeper drive. This is just merely where I think it has been hiding all along.
This is one of my favorite songs, if not my favorite song. My determination and desire to pursue the life I want to live is renewed every time I listen to it. I hope it impacts you as much as it has me.
Love endures, it clings away
When asked to leave, it begs to stay
Like the perfect song, at imperfect times
It's the way the chords struck with the rhymes
So let your troubles roll by...
He knows he can help himself
He can tell by a look at the books on his shelf
And someone, somewhere loses her son
Before her own sunset is said and done
And she dreams of sunflowers bent-over
Frozen in snow, and thinks 'Colorado.. ?'
But then plays her life back in slow motion
To keep in touch with that raw emotion
In the night, crushed empty can
Olive Oyle is waiting for her man
To come in from the fight
That will change their life
'For good this time...'
When all of your tears dry, let your troubles roll by
Like New Year's Eve, tonight's underway
But tomorrow you'll wake up afraid of the day
'Cause underneath the scars of your broken dreams
An undone war still wages and stings
You fear the year will blow
Like a breeze through a rainbow
You swear it's there, but you can't grab a hold
So you sit and cry and wonder why, why...
When all of your tears dry, let your troubles roll by
So many cities and windows and lives
And through each one there's a soul that strives to survive
So pay no mind, my sorrow's fine
The day is a live and that's why I cry
It's a New Year's toast, grab your list to conspire
The last snake hissed as he was thrown in the fire
You've come far, and though you're far from the end
You don't mind where you are, cause you know where you've been
Like a culture vulture sprawled out on the floor
Like a dead devil soldier washed up on the shore
With nothing of note but the ole' Capt.'s coat
And a burning boat you just sank with your salty tears
I've come to a unique sense of closure over the past day or two. Instead of constantly pursuing the emotions, sensations and memories that have made me happiest in my life I am simply living towards the future and embracing the fact that I had these memories.
I have a few large-scale goals that I want to have the opportunity to experience in my lifetime, but instead of focusing on where they could possibly lie, I am just sitting back and reflecting on the moments that have already come. Yes, they have come and gone, but the importance is that it happened and that I have the memory.
Memories are truly the driving forces for who we are. They inspire us and invoke our motivation. Experiencing the moment fuels that motivation onward. As great of experiences that I have had across my life thus far, I'm tired of diminishing the sensation by mauling over the fact that it's now gone. I want to enjoy what I had and realize that it's been the memory of those great experiences that pushes me forward and, in part, fuels the passion that I live life with.
I have taken a risk in the past year by leaving a stable job and pursuing my passion. I have been reminded recently of the importance of seeing your dreams through until the end, and there is a lot more left to see in this endeavor. Going into DC for the fireworks tonight only magnified that realization. There is so much left to work through and piece together, but that's exactly how we have gotten to where we are today.
Independence Day can only be celebrated because of the men and women who saw a dream and pursued it until the end. Wars were fought, beliefs were challenged and all of it has resulted in being able to celebrate today. Sure, there are some setbacks, but all in all we are very lucky. Seeing the utter glamour of the fireworks display renewed my faith and desire to keep on with the dream and vision that inspired me to pursue it to begin with.
There is still plenty to do, but thankfully it is work that makes me smile. I know how important this can be for other people. The fact that I can see it is more than enough reason and justification to keep at it. I can see it and the passion is to help other people see exactly what I see. Each day is another opportunity to move a little bit more forward. Hopefully I can keep inching closer and will have all the more to celebrate come next year's Independence Day.
1. Survived a ruptured brain aneurysm and stroke
2. Played baseball for 13 years, culminating in 4 MLB teams wanting to scout me
3. Lost 65 pounds
4. Learned how to balance on my right foot
5. Successfully learned taekwondo
6. Ran 5 marahthons
7. Finished first in my division in the Boston Marathon
8. Been deeply, truly in love
9. Started an advocacy group for people with disabilities that I am trying to successfully launch
10. Put together a Brain Surgery Survivors retreat that is happening next month
11. Been to Disney World AND Disneyland
12. Conditioned myself to the point where I can leg press 1170 pounds
13. Impacted one person's life (and done so hundreds of times over)
14. Written a book sharing and explaining this and all the other knowledge I have discovered, learned and gained across my life (including plenty that I have not listed here).
As much as I want to gain out of my life, I have done pretty darn well for myself. I'm not afraid of death, but even if I were I can die knowing I have lived a fulfilled life. I just realized this the other day, that I don't need to keep pursuing things. I just need to let everything that I have accomplished continue to come to fruition. There is still so much left to do, but if I were to die tomorrow I will die knowing that I have lived my life fully, without regret and will have left with a lasting mark to hopefully impact others for the better.
