It matters how you`re going to Finish
Has a gray gloom gathered around your life? Has some former friend been particularly spiteful toward you? Has the downsize demon descended on your place of employment? Did some nasty bank foreclose on your ancestral home? Did the love of your life abscond with your life savings and run away with your best friend? That is to say, do you feel a little down?
If you start to feel sorry for yourself, feel that life is hard, or that you've been dealt a bad hand: thank your lucky stars for what you do have, not for what you don't.
In 1984 two friends of mine, Harold and Alan, a father and son who owned a jewelry store on 47th Street in New York City, were sentenced to 5 years in prison each for buying stolen property, namely gold jewelry. They were sent to the Federal Correctional Facility in Danbury, Connecticut. Because this was the first offense for either of them and there was no violence, and the money factor was low, their guidelines determined that they would be released after serving one-third of their sentence or 20 months.
Danbury was an easy place to do time; one could play tennis, handball, racquetball, basketball. The gym had a row of exercise bikes, a speed-bag, some rowing equipment. The weight room was modern and had quite a number of workout machines in addition to a few heavy boxing bags. The two of them walked together every day around the quarter mile track inside the prison for exercise.
For the first ten months, every day without fail, the son would make two calls, one to his wife and the other to his mother. Then one day he called his wife and was told by the operator that the line was disconnected with no forwarding number. At first he thought that perhaps it was a mistake or temporary outage. He asked his mother to check in on his wife. When he called his mother the next day he was told that his wife was gone; his house was empty and all the furniture removed.
He asked his mother to check on his bank account and the next day was told that the joint account with his wife was entirely emptied of more than $250,000.00.
It was a beautiful and sunny day without a cloud in the sky when Harold began to wonder what was keeping his son from joining him in their walk. Then, over the PA system, Harold was ordered to report to the captain's office where he was told that his son hanged himself in his cell.
A week later, with still about a year left to serve, Harold's sentence was commuted to time served and he was released. I suppose Harold's judge thought that the loss of his son was more than enough punishment.
Alan was only 29 years old.
He thought his life was over. How wrong he was: wives can be found anew; money can be made again; life can be restarted. There are things worse than this.
Nick grew up learning to deal with his disability and was able to accomplish tasks that the rest of us take for granted such as cleaning teeth, brushing hair, typing on a computer, swimming, playing sports, and much more. Eventually Nick embraced his situation and went on to achieve greater things; he obtained a double bachelor degree majoring in accounting and financial planning. By 19 he started to fulfill his dream: to encourage others and bring them hope through motivational speaking. “I found the purpose of my existence, and also the purpose of my circumstance… There’s a purpose for why you’re in the fire.”
From Nick's website Attitude is Attitude:
Now at 25 years old this limbless young man has accomplished more than most people even twice his age. Nick recently made the massive move from Brisbane, Australia to California, USA, where he is the president of an international non-profit organization, and also has his own motivational speaking company; Attitude Is Altitude. Since his first motivational speaking engagement back when he was 19, Nick has traveled around the world, sharing his story with millions of people, speaking to a range of different groups such as students, teachers, youth, business men and women, entrepreneurs, and church congregations of all sizes. He has also told his story and been interviewed on various televised programs worldwide. However, Nick’s speaking engagements have gone beyond purely motivational speaking, he has had the opportunity to speak with several leaders, including the vice president of Kenya. This year alone Nick is set to speak in over 20 countries.
In the video below Nick Vujicic teaches highschoolers that the important thing in life is not the adversities that come upon us but how we handle them. "It matters how you're going to finish." I have to say, very inspiring, but I should warn you: Tissue Alert!
A tip of the turban 
to reader Stan M. for sending me the video.
