Thursday, September 25, 2014
Best of Class: Recently ...
Best of Class: Recently ...: Over the past several months I have logged a lot of air miles experiencing a lot of interesting situations, locations, and people. I have...
Recently ...
Over the past several months I have logged a lot of air miles
experiencing a lot of interesting situations, locations, and people. I
have also refined a lot of my personal preferences and habits related to
getting to and from the airport, navigating check-in, TSA, gates, on
and off boarding, seat selection, and etc.
I prefer to sit in an aisle seat followed by a window seat with only “if” absolutely the last seat on a plane - the middle seat. I like the ease of getting up without having to disrupt, interrupt or inconvenience anyone else plus after a flight I like to stand and stretch.
Recently, I was only able to secure a middle seat – “was I excited!” with just a hint of sarcasm. Short of pouting, I sucked it up and accepted I was going to sit in a middle seat. Figuring I would just plug in and make the best of it.
As pre-boarding began I noticed an individual approaching the gate with prosthetics on both legs. I didn’t really think much more about it until I was on the plane and approached my seat.
As I got to my row and looked to see who was sitting in the window seat, it was the individual I had seen at the gate. My pity party was over for sure. As I took my seat, I commented that he must be asked all the time what happened that resulted in the loss of his limbs.
He said, “all the time.”
I asked, “military?”
He said “no".
“What happened?” “if you don’t mind me asking”.
He said, “not at all”.
For the next couple of hours, I listened, asked questions, and listened more as I heard this incredible story - tragedy turned triumph - a story that must be told.
I was not expecting to meet Lou Figueroa - a courageous individual and learn about his incredible story of human determination, faith, transformation, and hope. The loss of his legs and the process of recovery leading him to travel the world to share lessons learned and raising awareness to reduce or eliminate any other person from experiencing what he has.
There is no way I can share the depth of our two-hour conversation. You will have to visit Lou’s website (http://loufigueroa.com/) or better yet reach out and follow his journey. Lou’s unique combination of an amputation above one knee on one leg and one amputation below the knee on the other has created a very unique situation. One prosthetic that contains a microprocessor and one that doesn’t. Again, you really need to visit his website to grasp, in part, the challenge he faces daily.
Each step Lou takes must be intentional - purposeful and with thought. He must constantly balance the mechanical, the artificial with his natural moving parts. Those of us with both our natural legs don’t even give a second thought about taking a step let alone intentionally thinking about walking up or down a set of stairs, navigating uneven terrain, or etc. We just walk.
How many of us ponder, consider and act intentionally with every step taken - literally as well as figuratively?
It is easy to act without thinking. We spend a lifetime developing patterns of thinking and acting in an almost robotic or unconscious manner. The intentionality that Lou expends with every step is more than just movement. It’s about balance.
The calculus of intentionality as well as balance requires not only thinking - but understanding the “what” and “why” of ones thinking about every step -
I prefer to sit in an aisle seat followed by a window seat with only “if” absolutely the last seat on a plane - the middle seat. I like the ease of getting up without having to disrupt, interrupt or inconvenience anyone else plus after a flight I like to stand and stretch.
Recently, I was only able to secure a middle seat – “was I excited!” with just a hint of sarcasm. Short of pouting, I sucked it up and accepted I was going to sit in a middle seat. Figuring I would just plug in and make the best of it.
As pre-boarding began I noticed an individual approaching the gate with prosthetics on both legs. I didn’t really think much more about it until I was on the plane and approached my seat.
As I got to my row and looked to see who was sitting in the window seat, it was the individual I had seen at the gate. My pity party was over for sure. As I took my seat, I commented that he must be asked all the time what happened that resulted in the loss of his limbs.
He said, “all the time.”
I asked, “military?”
He said “no".
“What happened?” “if you don’t mind me asking”.
He said, “not at all”.
For the next couple of hours, I listened, asked questions, and listened more as I heard this incredible story - tragedy turned triumph - a story that must be told.
I was not expecting to meet Lou Figueroa - a courageous individual and learn about his incredible story of human determination, faith, transformation, and hope. The loss of his legs and the process of recovery leading him to travel the world to share lessons learned and raising awareness to reduce or eliminate any other person from experiencing what he has.
There is no way I can share the depth of our two-hour conversation. You will have to visit Lou’s website (http://loufigueroa.com/) or better yet reach out and follow his journey. Lou’s unique combination of an amputation above one knee on one leg and one amputation below the knee on the other has created a very unique situation. One prosthetic that contains a microprocessor and one that doesn’t. Again, you really need to visit his website to grasp, in part, the challenge he faces daily.
Each step Lou takes must be intentional - purposeful and with thought. He must constantly balance the mechanical, the artificial with his natural moving parts. Those of us with both our natural legs don’t even give a second thought about taking a step let alone intentionally thinking about walking up or down a set of stairs, navigating uneven terrain, or etc. We just walk.
How many of us ponder, consider and act intentionally with every step taken - literally as well as figuratively?
It is easy to act without thinking. We spend a lifetime developing patterns of thinking and acting in an almost robotic or unconscious manner. The intentionality that Lou expends with every step is more than just movement. It’s about balance.
The calculus of intentionality as well as balance requires not only thinking - but understanding the “what” and “why” of ones thinking about every step -
- Where am I going?
- Why do I want to take it?
- What is the purpose of this step?
- How long will it take me?
- What’s the weather?
- What type of step do I need to take?
- What is the surface I will be stepping on? Will it change or remain the same?
- Will I need to speed up or slow down?
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