Our nation’s wounded warriors need time to heal; and the rest of us need a place in which to reflect upon their sacrifice. Here’s David Martin:
It’s a thing of beauty designed to honor an ugly fact: the wounds of war. The name of Washington’s newest memorial — American Veterans Disabled for Life — makes the point.
Project director Barry Owenby gave Martin an advance look at the memorial, which opens next Sunday. It’s for disabled veterans of all wars, of whom an estimated three million are alive today.
“It doesn’t end with the war; they live with it forever,” Owenby said.
“They have a trauma of injury, a healing process, and then their rediscovery of purpose. So that’s the story that we’re trying to tell here.”
An inspiring story, I have know Steve Muse for a few years now, I met him and Jennifer as a volunteer and photographer at Challenged America, I did not know the whole story until now, just bits and pieces.
When I was in the hospital a year and a half ago with the real possibility of losing my leg, Steve Muse and other Challenged America participants, Wounded Warriors were the inspiration that helped me keep positive during my stay, through my surgeries and year long recovery.
Steve loaned me one of his wheelchairs, set it up for me and gave me a form of mobility I did not have and I gained a whole new level of admiration for what he had and was achieving and gave me the strength to push my rehabilitation through the pain, through the ups and down.
Watch his story and if you are not inspired, nothing will.
Thanks Steve for everything, you will never know how big a part you played in my recovery, you are an inspiration..
The sea is a demanding environment, so people always ask, “How are you able to sail if you can’t see?”
The answer: I have an acute “spacial” awareness and directional ability, and I use the wind’s varying pressure and patterns of waves to determine the direction I’m headed.
The truth of the matter is at night on the sea, everyone is blind. When the darkness takes over, it can be the most frightening or peaceful of times. A time when you can be at one with the ocean and your vessel, whether a totally blind sailor like me or blessed with 20/20 vision.
When I became completely blind in 1984, I first thought sailing would no longer be possible. Then I was introduced to a program called “Challenged America,” which is designed to teach people with disabilities of all kinds how to sail. I realized it was something I had to be a part of, and I welcomed one of my truest passions back into my life.
Having logged thousands of coastal and offshore sailing miles in my youth, I’ve been able to add to my experience by sailing and racing on the West Coast with “Challenged America.” This includes being the captain on two trans-Pacific races from Los Angeles to Honolulu.
Ultimately, my blindness isn’t my biggest challenge when I take to the open sea — it’s my type 1 diabetes. Many people don’t realize the daily, if not hourly requirements that people with diabetes face. But it’s a disease that when properly managed can be nothing more than something you live with, rather than something that determines how you live.
