Carrying the Fire

"You can't always choose the path that you walk in life, but you can always choose the manner in which you walk it."

            Doctors will tell you that the worst pain is the pain caused by a burn. Now close your eyes and for a moment remember yourself as you were when you were nine-years-old. Think of all the silly, not-so-bright things you did. And think of how lucky you are to be alive.

            One summer day nine-year-old John O'Leary watched older boys in his Midwestern neighborhood pour gasoline on the sidewalk and set it ablaze, he writes in his book 'On Fire: The Seven Choices to Ignite a Radically Inspired Life.'
            'It was amazing!' he thought. So John got some matches, and he went in his family's garage. He set a scrap of cardboard on fire. Then he went to a five-gallon can of gasoline. He wanted to tilt it so the gas would pour onto the cardboard.

            But the can was too heavy for him to tilt. So, he put the burning cardboard on the garage floor. Then he knelt to the can and put his arms around it. Now he could tilt the spout towards the fire.

            Everything exploded. A human torch, John tore into his home. His older brother tackled him and wrapped him in a rug, extinguishing the flames.

The Damage Was Done

            Too late. The damage was done. One-hundred percent of John's body was burned, and 87 percent of those burns were third degree.

            This is supposed to kill anyone, especially a child, but John was not just anyone. Nor was his mother. In the hospital—on the day he was burned—she asked him, "John, do you want to die? It's your choice, not mine."

            That is tough love.

            He spent the next five months in the hospital, mostly strapped helpless to a bed to help his skin heal properly. His tiny fingers became infected. They were all amputated.

            Many surgeries and much physical therapy and many years later, John became a hospital chaplain. Today he is an inspirational speaker and author. He's married, and he has four children. And he can play a dandy version of "Amazing Grace" on the piano. Without fingers.

            He thrives—being "on fire" is what he calls it—because in his mind, he used his courage to make a choice, the choice his mother set before him. He could have had a bad attitude which might have made death more likely. Or he could be grateful for the gift of life itself. He could be grateful that being alive means he has the ability to choose what attitude he will wake up with.

“Take a Good Look”

            One day in the hospital a doctor at his bedside asked a janitor named Lavelle to come over. "Take a good look at this little boy," the doctor said. "Lavelle, you are keeping him alive."

            John couldn't understand what the doctor meant—How could a lowly janitor be saving his life? It turns out that in hospitals, infection kills more burn patients than anything else. Keeping the room clean kept John healthy. More important, having a good attitude in what might seem a lowly job saves lives.

            Have the courage to care about even the simplest, smallest thing in your life. It may be the biggest, greatest thing to someone else. So, what's at the end of your broom?

MORAL: Be in the moment. 

Buy the book "Courage 101: True Tales of Grit & Glory" at Amazon!