(courtesy of Sports Illustrated)
I try to be a good father. Give my kids mulligans. Wo
(courtesy of Sports Illustrated)
I try to be a good father. Give my kids mulligans. Work nights to pay For their text messaging. Take them to swimsuit shoots.
But compared with Dick Hoyt, I suck.
Eighty-five times he's pushed his disabled son, Rick, 26.2 miles in Marathons. Eight times he's not only pushed him 26.2 miles in a Wheelchair but also towed him 2.4 miles in a dinghy while swimming and Pedaled him 112 miles in a seat on the handlebars--all in the same day.
Dick's also pulled him cross-country skiing, taken him on his back Mountain climbing and once hauled him across the U.S. On a bike. Makes Taking your son bowling look a little lame, right?
And what has Rick done for his father? Not much--except save his life. This love story began in Winchester , Mass. , 43 years ago, when Rick Was strangled by the umbilical cord during birth, leaving him Brain-damaged and unable to control his limbs.
"He'll be a vegetable the rest of his life;'' Dick says doctors told him And his wife, Judy, when Rick was nine months old. ``Put him in an Institution.''
But the Hoyts weren't buying it. They noticed the way Rick's eyes Followed them around the room. When Rick was 11 they took him to the Engineering department at Tufts University and asked if there was Anything to help the boy communicate. ``No way,'' Dick says he was told. ``There's nothing going on in his brain.''
"Tell him a joke,'' Dick countered. They did. Rick laughed. Turns out a Lot was going on in his brain. Rigged up with a computer that allowed Him to control the cursor by touching a switch with the side of his Head, Rick was finally able to communicate. First words? ``Go Bruins!'' And after a high school classmate was paralyzed in an accident and the School organized a charity run for him, Rick pecked out, ``Dad, I want To do that.''
Yeah, right. How was Dick, a self-described ``porker'' who never ran More than a mile at a time, going to push his son five miles? Still, he Tried. ``Then it was me who was handicapped,'' Dick says. ``I was sore For two weeks.''
That day changed Rick's life. ``Dad,'' he typed, ``when we were running, It felt like I wasn't disabled anymore!''
And that sentence changed Dick's life. He became obsessed with giving Rick that feeling as often as he could. He got into such hard-belly Shape that he and Rick were ready to try the 1979 Boston Marathon.
``No way,'' Dick was told by a race official. The Hoyts weren't quite a Single runner, and they weren't quite a wheelchair competitor. For a few Years Dick and Rick just joined the massive field and ran anyway, then They found a way to get into the race Officially: In 1983 they ran another marathon so fast they made the Qualifying time for Boston the following year.
Then somebody said, ``Hey, Dick, why not a triathlon?''
How's a guy who never learned to swim and hadn't ridden a bike since he Was six going to haul his 110-pound kid through a triathlon? Still, Dick Tried.
Now they've done 212 triathlons, including four grueling 15-hour Ironmans in Hawaii . It must be a buzzkill to be a 25-year-old stud Getting passed by an old guy towing a grown man in a dinghy, don't you Think?
Hey, Dick, why not see how you'd do on your own? ``No way,'' he says. Dick does it purely for ``the awesome feeling'' he gets seeing Rick with A cantaloupe smile as they run, swim and ride together.
This year, at ages 65 and 43, Dick and Rick finished their 24th Boston Marathon, in 5,083rd place out of more than 20,000 starters. Their best Time? Two hours, 40 minutes in 1992--only 35 minutes off the world Record, which, in case you don't keep track of these things, happens to Be held by a guy who was not pushing another man in a wheelchair at the Time.
``No question about it,'' Rick types. ``My dad is the Father of the Century.''
And Dick got something else out of all this too. Two years ago he had a Mild heart attack during a race. Doctors found that one of his arteries Was 95% clogged. ``If you hadn't been in such great shape,'' One doctor told him, ``you probably would've died 15 years ago.'' So, in a way, Dick and Rick saved each other's life.
Rick, who has his own apartment (he gets home care) and works in Boston, and Dick, retired from the military and living in Holland, Mass. , always find ways to be together. They give speeches around the country and compete in some backbreaking race every weekend, including this Father's Day.
That night, Rick will buy his dad dinner, but the thing he really wants to give him is a gift he can never buy.
``The thing I'd most like,'' Rick types, ``is that my dad sit in the chair and I push him once.''
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Added: 7 months ago
Views: 23,694
European Parliament (Strasbourg) 16-18 June 2008.
Reactions to the Irish No to the Lisbo
European Parliament (Strasbourg) 16-18 June 2008.
Reactions to the Irish No to the Lisbon Treaty.
In order of appearance:
- Hans-Gert Pöttering MEP, EPP-ED, President of the European Parliament (16.06.2008)
- José Manuel Barroso, EU Commission President (13.06.2008; 18.06.2008; 10.07.2007)
- Nigel Farage MEP, Co-President, Independence/Democracy Group (IND/DEM) (17-18.06.2008)
- Martin Schulz MEP, President, PES Group (18.06.2008)
- Margot Wallström, Commission Vice-President (18.06.2008)
- Daniel Hannan MEP, non-attached (formerly EPP-ED) (18.06.2008)
- Hanne Dahl MEP, IND/DEM Group (18.06.2008)
- Kathy Sinnott MEP, Co-President, IND/DEM Group (18.06.2008)
- Philip Bushill-Matthews MEP, EPP-ED (18.06.2008)
- Poul Nyrup Rasmussen MEP, President of the Party of European Socialists (PES)(18.06.2008)
- Tobias Pflüger MEP, European Left - GUE/NGL (18.06.2008)
NOTE - The MEPs wearing the "Respect the Irish Vote" shirts are from various countries and from different groups.
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Credits:
- Hemicycle scenes: Audio Visual, European Parliament
- Barroso excerpt (10.07.2007) from EUX.TV (http://www.eux.tv ): "Barroso: European Union is 'empire' (short version)". Watch video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c2Ralocq9uE
- Music: Cornerstone Cues: Requiem For A Tower Mvt. II; Reprogram. From "El Morro": Drum Train, Burning Touch, Undefeated. From "Air Lyndhurt": Dark Rise, Velvet Choker.
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Note on the rejected EU Constitution and Lisbon Treaty:
The people of France and the Netherlands rejected the proposed EU constitution in the 2005 referendums. After this, other countries cancelled a promised referendum and the EU Constitution was re-written as an "amending treaty" or a "reform treaty" and named "Treaty of Lisbon".
On the basis of this deceit, they claimed that no referendums are necessary on the Lisbon Treaty. Ireland was constitutionally required to hold a referendum and on the 12 June 2008 the people of Ireland gave a resounding No to Lisbon. Yet this vote is not being respected and the rule of law is being ignored. The EU leaders agreed at the June 19-20 EU Summit that ratifications must go on. Moreover, no other government is asking the people.
The Lisbon Treaty establishes a new "European Union" with joint citizenship - an EU "federal" State that is technically and politically empowered to centralize more power in Brussels. The treaty also stipulates the militarisation of the Union in order to 'police the world' just like the US does today.
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To view the Political Groups in the European Parliament go to: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/members/expert.do?language=EN
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EU Member States:
Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Germany, Denmark, Estonia, Spain, Finland, France, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Sweden, United Kingdom
Other states in Europe:
Switzerland, Iceland, Norway, Faroes, Andorra, Monaco, Liechtenstein, San Marino, Russia, Ukraine, Moldova, Transdniestria (Transnistria), Belarus, Turkey, Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro, Albania.
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Added: 4 weeks ago
Views: 20,595
Professor Randy Pausch made a surprise return to Carnegie Mellon University to deliver an
Professor Randy Pausch made a surprise return to Carnegie Mellon University to deliver an inspirational speech to the Class of 2008 at the Commencement ceremony on May 18, 2008.
Pausch was included in TIME Magazine's 2008 list of the world's 100 most influential people. His book, "The Last Lecture," co-written by Jeff Zaslow of the Wall Street Journal and based on Pausch's now-famous talk "Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams," is a New York Times #1 bestseller.
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Added: 2 months ago
Views: 296,851
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