(Photo by Cindy Ord/GettyToday’s Big Topic: Steve Gleason
The kind of inhuman loathing showed by those idiotic Atlanta
sports-radio DJs — it is a disservice to publicize them by even offering
their names, while applauding their firing — is counterbalanced by the grace of Steve Gleason.
Beyond the universal rejection of these clowns, the right response is
to ignore the abhorrent noise of these and other talk-radio shock
jocks.
What is a better use of your energy? For starters, read Gleason’s inspiring SI.com column,
in which he pinch-hit for a vacationing Peter King. Gleason types with
his eyes — the 4,500-word column took him 4 hours to blink out.
It is easy to see the subsequent story and feel outrage. It is harder
to read Gleason’s account of his ALS, but it is as life-affirming as
the Atlanta DJs’ behavior was soul-sucking. Gleason, in his own words:
So, how does a person react when he or she learns there are two to five years left with which to live?
Denial. Frustration. Anger. Despair. But at some point, I understood
that acceptance of this diagnosis was not admitting defeat. That was
critical for me personally. I think our lives are enriched when our own
death is a conscious thought. I am not saying we should obsess over
this, but it can be useful, because it makes you focus on the things and
people you truly love. After that realization, I started to dig in, to
look forward to what might be in my future.
Because ALS research is underfunded and under-resourced, patients end
up fading away quietly. I did not want to fade away quietly.
No comments:
Post a Comment