crippled leader

I ran across this article amid a huge box of family photos that mother brought by the office earlier this week.  I read the word "crippled" and remembered how much my Dad disliked that word.

Life for my dad might have been more of a challenge than it was for those with two good legs, but dad never let an obstacle stop him. A lot of people today try to find any way to get on disability and let their handicap be an excuse not to pursue their dreams - but dad just plowed on through life. He wasn't just following, I watched him orchestrate his life, and be a leader. He went from orchestra to law school - law school to career. He had a very full and eventful life - in spite of the braces and crutches. No, he might have had a handicap - but he wasn't crippled by it.

I remember as a kid, his starting the Gadsden Table Tennis Association (GTTA). We even had national table tennis competitions in town. Here's a link to the History of U.S.Table Tennis IV (you'll have to do a name search for Finlayson or Gadsden...scroll down a little). People remember the man in the wheelchair that could play table tennis. My mom could play a mean game - won tournaments - can you imagine that? Dad also started up the Extended Ministries Association (EMA) in the early to mid-seventies. He loved camp-meeting so much that he wanted to bring a taste of it to Etowah County one weekend out of the year. Dad's profession was an attorney - but I guess - if he had life to do over again - he'd be a pastor. He even pursued his doctorate (of divinity) back in the seventies. I can't tell you how many Sundays dad would ask me to help him get to and fro, in and out of all the little churches in and around Etowah County and beyond. He loved to preach and would fill in for sick or vacationing preachers - and yes - he would often sing a song or two to boot.

On a political note - We live in such an ass-backwards culture where our government has encouraged dependency rather than independency. Rush is right - "we punish achievers" in this not-so-Great Society of ours - and reward those that prefer not to seize the day. They'd much rather seize the check. Instead of teaching a man to fish these days, we are just doling out fish to those who don't even care to put forth the effort. Growing up, I witnessed a man with two bad legs (and one bad arm) move forward and up in life without government handouts. I saw a man with braces take on life, and provide for his family of eight. Pretty darn impressive by today's standard. Now I realize it is a common tendency for kinfolk to glorify those that are dead and gone, but this was a good character of my father that I do not have to exaggerate. Thanks Dad.