How To Let Nothing Come Between You And A Fulfilling Life

When you don’t have eyes, use your ears

If you don’t have sight, how full can your life be?

2 words for you:  

Stevie Wonder. 

Blind almost since birth, Stevie never let his blindness become an excuse and followed his dream to become a musician.

If not for that, we might never have heard such wonderful hits as “I Just Called To Say I Love You”, “You are the Sunshine of My Life”, “Boogie On Reggae Woman” and “That’s What Friends Are For”.

Like Stevie, we should never let a physical (or mental) challenge come between us and our dreams. No matter how big that challenge is.

Our talents, energy, resolve and ability to adapt should be able to empower us.

By focusing on what we can do, instead of what we can’t do, we can achieve amazing things.

When you don’t have arms, use your legs

If you are born armless, do you have to sit on the sidelines of life?

Not if you ask George and James, the Dennehy boys. 

Born armless, the Dennehy brothers have not let it hold them back from pursuing music, sports and all the activities their hearts desire.

George learned to play the guitar, cello and electric bass (you can see him perform here), and George and James water-ski and play basketball as well.

Reading their story and you can do so here (you will also learn about Jessica Cox, an armless pilot) will inspire you to overcome any limitations standing between you and your dreams.

Nothing stops us from achieving (or re-achieving our dreams) and becoming all we are meant to be.

Just look at George, James and Jessica.

When you can’t talk, use your fingers

If you are deaf and you can't speak, are you destined to be a spectator in life?

Not if you let Marlee Matlin’s life be your guide. 

Losing her hearing as an 18 month old baby, Marlee did not let this stop her from pursuing an acting career which would ultimately lead her to an Oscar for her performance in Children of a Lesser God.

Debuting at age 7, Marlee is still going strong as an actress after 25 years and has also delighted us with her performances on Dancing With The Stars and with her book, “I’ll Scream Later”, in which we learn that she has also successfully overcome child abuse, drug use and an abusive relationship.

Hard to believe that this truly remarkable gal has achieved so much in life, in spite of being able to speak only with her fingers.

Proving once again...

If we believe we can do it, we can do it.

We should feel empowered by Marlee Matlin’s story to use the gifts we have to triumph over both our physical limitations and our bad choices and experiences.

When you can move only your eyes, move your eyes

If you were paralyzed and could move only your eyes, could you continue to live a productive life?

If you read Charlie Wedemeyer’s story, the answer, hard to believe, is yes.

Struck down with ALS at the young age of 30 - which made him unable to walk, talk or use his hands -this former sportsman, Los Gatos High School teacher and coach continued to coach the Los Gatos High Wildcats football team for a full 9 years after the onset of his illness, using eye blinks, eye twitches and eyebrow raises (which his wife interpreted for him) to communicate with his team. 

Indeed, even after he stopped coaching, though Charlie was still able to only blink his eyes, he lived a full life with ALS, until his death at the age of 64 last year.

The ALS annals are full of heroic stories such as Charlie’s. It includes the story of my dear cousin Vinita Piyaratne (Vantu to me and my family), who has been a personal hero to me for the way she has handled her own ALS illness since she was diagnosed with it 5 years ago. 

What makes Charlie’s and Vantu’s stories so heartening, is their refusal to give up on life.

You can read Vantu’s remarkable story of courage, optimism and cheerfulness in this newspaper article, and in her book: Go Slowly Moon.

I hope you are empowered by the amazing triumphs of Stevie Wonder, George and James Dennehy, Jessica Cox, Marlee Matlin, Charlie Wedemeyer and Vinita Piyaratne to never let anything come between you and a fulfilling life.

P.S. It has been my privilege to learn George and James’s story first hand from their father, Mike Dennehy, whom I worked with at Palm. Bangaloreans may be interested to know that Mike Dennehy’s son James is originally from Bangalore, and his full name is James Karthik Dennehy.

P.S. 2:  Thanks to Ken Crafford of Stratafusion Inc. for bringing Charlie’s story to my attention.  A made for tv movie, Quiet Victory: The Charlie Wedemeyer Story was released in 2005, you can link to it at Netflix here. You can also read the IMDB info for Quiet Victory here.

P.S. 3: ALS is also called Lou Gehrig’s Disease - after the major league baseball player Lou Gehrig, whose career was tragically cut short by it.  Another victim of ALS is the brilliant professor Stephen Hawking. You can read what he has to say about living with ALS here.

P.S. 4: Ever since my dear cousin Vantu was diagnosed with ALS, I have become acutely aware of this illness and expressed to Tanita that it would be wonderful if she became a scientist and helped find a cure for it.

P.S. 5:  I really do believe that thriving is a state of mind, not a state of body, or a state of circumstances.  My own B-I-L Jim, who contributed the guest post Gleanings From The Teaching Company, is a testimony to that. Jim's achievements are so many, I will need to dedicate an entire post to them. Meanwhile, let me know if other heroes come to your mind. Also, my post "How to Be a Better Dad in 2011" contains a video of 2 heroes, a dad and his son.  You can read it here. As always, thanks for reading and hope you have an inspired day.