A personal hero among us

[smoothfun]

There you have it , a personal statement to how our actions can benefit others , even it is just making someones day!
POOL ON! & keep your stick on the ice , lol!

[Shoeless]

So THAT's why he has always been your avatar? No biggie


Simply awesome.

Oh lord it took me a long time to figure out what the reference was, Ross. Very astute.

[bigs_biggie]

Hats off to you both. You should be very proud. You're both heroes. This really touched me and made me sit back and realize what's really important in life.

Thanks for sharing this story and keep up the good work.

[Zorro]

I love reading hockey news, but this is the real deal and much more enjoyable.. Anybody who does work for others is a GREAT GREAT person and deserves the very best in life.. Shoeless you truly are a great dude.. Great work cdubb, and great story Shoe..

[Shoeless]

I love reading hockey news, but this is the real deal and much more enjoyable.. Anybody who does work for others is a GREAT GREAT person and deserves the very best in life.. Shoeless you truly are a great dude.. Great work cdubb, and great story Shoe..

Thanks Zorro but I am going to beg to differ. There is really no more greatness in doing this stuff than there is in you sitting down and taking time to console a friend, or cutting your neighbors lawn while they are visiting their mom in the hospital or a hundred other little acts of kindness and caring.

You see, I honestly believe that heroes are everyday people doing ordinary things of caring and kindness. There is no scale here - it's making the choice that is the key and choices are equal for everyone - you chose to do something that you can or you don't.

You are in Winnipeg and I am in a village in Cambodia - we are both where we want to be at that moment in our lives because of what it does for us (read selfish) - now, I pull out a basin, get some water and wash an old woman's feet, moisturize them, file her toe nails so they don't cut her and make her susceptible to infection as is the case with diabetics - you on the other hand chose to walk down the street and sit on the veranda of the old boy who is finding it difficult to read from failing eyesight and you read him the boxscore for the Jets game. Tell me who the greater hero is? I don't think you can because they are equivalent acts of kindness and caring. Yeah the jungle in Cambodia sounds more dramatic and we hear about the incredible poverty and deprivation there, but it simply does not make that act any more heroic than reading the boxscore. It's all about choice, we have a choice to make a difference every day and several times a day if the truth be known. Heroes/great people make that choice, often as casually as changing their underwear because it's just not that big a deal.

Let me go back to the case of cdubb - young guy, not long married, graduated from a prestigious Canadian University took a fellowship in Australia to start his career and decides to holiday in Cambodia this year to see the amazing Angkor Wat - happens we chatted about it on-line in our league and that's where he got the idea to go. Knowing he was coming I asked him for some of his time and he readily accepted (the choice!). He brought some stuff with him, sent some critical publications and spent a matter of maybe an hour and half at the clinic chatting, we went back and picked up his wife and went for lunch, visit a free school and did some shopping - done. He didn't have to do that - he was on vacation, why would he?

Now what Calvin didn't know at the time was the man who is the founder of the Cambodia Diabete Association, Lim Keuky, who was part of our chat at the clinic, is nearing the end of a long journey to try and save lives and limbs in that country against incredible odds. He's 76 and diabetic, losing his sight and above all starting to lose his will to keep pushing - he's getting tired with such small gains. He has essentially financially supported the project out of his own pocket for about 14 years. Calvin did know that Lim had 3 Ph.D's and taught in France for several years, but Calvin didn't know that Lim was the Minister of Information for Cambodia in the very early 70's and the Minister of Foreign Affairs right up to the time Pol Pot came to power and decided that educated people had no place in Cambodia and he wasn't into spending money on deporting them. Lim fled and in the mid 90's, Lim and 12 other notable Cambodians were invited back to help reconstruct the country - only 3 did so and lasted, Lim being one of them.

On that day, Calvin, by dint of his choice to spend a little time on something he didn't know much about, but it was based on caring - effectively changed the course of lives in Cambodia. What happened immediately after Calvin left the clinic was that Lim had his heart back, it's second hand to me but he reportedly said, "What a nice young man, you know, I think we can do this." It's complicated to explain how, but as a result, medical equipment and cash are flowing to that project and services are being ramped up.

Now Calvin keeps shrugging this off - no big deal, too much credit - and yeah he's right - a simple decision based on values, a minor effort for him. The consquences of his choice are magnificent, but the choice was easy and the effort wasn't great.

Greatness walks among us, rubs against our shoulders everyday - the only thing stopping it from being unleashed is the lack of people making a choice to care, to be kind.

I think it's a mistake to glorify acts of kindness and caring based on their exoticness - feeding and schooling people in Cambodia is exotic to most of you because it's a world you don't know - but let me tell, it really isn't substantially different than your neighborhood. People need kindness and caring everywhere - and when you do it in your own neighborhood it isn't exotic so it gets chalked up as not being particularly heroic and great. Well, sorry to announce this but it is exactly the same as what I am doing - no more, no less. Being exotic creates an illusion that warps the view - strip it down to the act of choosing to do something and it balances out on the beam.

Now Calvin is still my hero for this - but it's because he made a choice to care - that's what I think heroes do. Caring people think about the possible outcomes for others and not the possible incomes for themselves - that was where cdubb lived.

Think about it, Z - bet you have a couple of hero stories to tell, huh?

[cdubb]

Well Rick glad to have the update that things are proceeding well over there since my visit. Would never have found out about the clinic without your mentioning it to me.

For me it was inspirational to see what someone like Professor Lim can accomplish (he could just be enjoying a very comfortable retirement instead of trying to make things better for the people around him, just like you could be).

Though i come from a medical background, I think this can be very applicable to others. Basically just finished my surgical training less than a year ago, and have no permanent job yet (joining list of newly trained unemployed orthopaedic surgeons in Canada), and hence no actual resources. But all you need is ideas and one might end up being helpful.

[Shoeless]

Well Rick glad to have the update that things are proceeding well over there since my visit. Would never have found out about the clinic without your mentioning it to me.

For me it was inspirational to see what someone like Professor Lim can accomplish (he could just be enjoying a very comfortable retirement instead of trying to make things better for the people around him, just like you could be).

Though i come from a medical background, I think this can be very applicable to others. Basically just finished my surgical training less than a year ago, and have no permanent job yet (joining list of newly trained unemployed orthopaedic surgeons in Canada), and hence no actual resources. But all you need is ideas and one might end up being helpful.

Bingo!

You know, now that the trade deadline has passed in our league, I really regret not hounding you for Schneider and giving up the treasure chest for him. Alas, I might have to win the league with Labarbera.