Together

These are two videos about a father-and-son team. Watch to believe that life is still worth living.

The story of Dick and Rick Hoyt
Together
Can

Today I pray for peace

Today I pray for world peace.

Not for the political leaders, not for the conflicting nations, but for the people. I pray for you.

When life is so short, how can you keep on fighting? When life can be so beautiful, how can you kill?

Pause in your footsteps today and think about your life. A better world can exist without the bloodshed, but it takes wisdom and dedication and heart full of compassion.

Instead of anger, choose peace. Instead of bitterness, choose forgiveness. That will be the beginning of a lifelong journey.

When you choose to embrace life, you will find that we are all in need of one another. An orphan is without his parents, whether he is Arab or Jew or Caucasian or Indian. A heart can still rejoice, whether it is in health or in sickness or in pain. It's only by friendship that races cross their respective boundaries, colors forget their labels, and classes begin to dissolve.

Be a friend today. Make this world a better place.

Resources

Here are some resources for planning purposes:

Japan Rail
Welcome to Taiwan
Travel Thailand and Make a Difference
Discover the Philippines
Uniquely Singapore

Picture: Phra Nang Beach. (Photographer: John Elk III) © Lonely Planet Images

The Asian Trip Project

So, I am still planning my trip around Asia. I know I must be out of my mind, because I have muscular dystrophy. More than that, I must be out of my mind, because Asians don't travel in Asia.

But I am sticking with it. Why? Because if there are a million people around me doing the same thing the same way, I would rather be that one in a million who does it differently. Having congenital muscular dystrophy, after all, is like having won the jackpot. I know what it takes to be different.

So here are some ways you can help. The "Internet people" offered these ideas:

1. Coordinate trip details - arrange accessible transportation or accommodation for me and my travelling companion

2. Donate your Frequent Flier mileage - to sponsor our air tickets

3. Offer information from experience - tell us about places/people to visit/contact

4. Invite us to speak - at your school, community center, or church for us to do presentations on life and education (or other topics). We would love to do that!

5. Introduce us to your friends - if you have friends in Asia, introduce them to us! We would love to meet them!

Mountain Climbing

I was listening to the audio book, Into Thin Air, recently, and the sheer danger of high altitude climbing is just unimaginable. But I wonder, is there any way someone with muscular dystrophy can go mountain climbing, even at low altitudes? I would like to try that.

My condition:

- fully wheelchair-reliant
- severe contractures in four limbs
- had undergone a major surgery on spine to correct scoliosis
- chronic pain in left hip
- regular physical therapy needed

Team work seems to be a paramount issue here. Into Thin Air, which recounts one of the worst disasters on Mount Everest, carries across a clear message of what happens when there is no unity and cohesion among a group's members. The division (or mere individualism) not only led to deaths that could have been prevented, but is apparent in the after-spat between survivors who criticized and blamed each other.

I can never climb a mountain alone. In fact, I cannot survive a day without someone else's help. But if you are willing to broaden someone else's horizon by lending a creative mind, let me know. You might just have stumbled across a project that's going to change my life, and yours as well.

The Girl at the Bus Stop

She stands there, staring down the street with a blank look, a focused look, a tired look. Her books are pressed against her chest as she wraps both arms around them; a dirt-green colored bag slants across her right shoulder. It is hard to tell what her shirt looks like, but it's almost certain it resembles every other female uniform across the country---a buttoned shirt with a pocket, matched with a pleated skirt. Black socks rise to just beneath her knees.

A pair of glasses with a black, rectangular frame sit upon her nose, which may explain why she has a focused look. A student, after all, is meant to look studious, serious---disciplined. Even when she stands waiting for the bus. At attention! What a thought. I searched my mind to speculate what the girl might have been thinking. She may be new here, like me. That's why underneath that poised look she betrays a sense of insecurity, so exhaustively disguised. But more likely she has been standing there for the two-hundred-and-twenty-second day. She had stood there every single morning. To catch the bus, to catch her breath, to catch a glimpse of her promising future.

Maybe someone told her she should wait there for the forty-second bus. It runs through Nang-Gang and will bring her to her school. But now the fifty-second bus pulls up against the bus stop, two passengers alight, and the driver pauses to find that no one is getting on. The door closes and the rest are whisked away, all staring out their windows with an almost pitiful look at those left behind. Blank, focused, yet unmistakenably tired.

Who will bring her to her destination? The girl, for the first time, shifts her legs as if to regain her comfort zone. Her gaze drops but it comes up again. It is all right. Her bus will come.