Saturday Stories
September 9, 2017
There is such pure positive energy in the world. I have been
seeing and feeling it all around me since I began to look through new eyes. I
feel inspired and uplifted when I see my fellowmen emerge victorious against
seemingly insurmountable odds. I think those who say that there are no more
heroes and role models are looking at the wrong places.
I found an article last night about
Filipinos who showed that, with faith and courage, nothing is impossible. I
have known and admired some of them even before, like Grace Padaca, Roselle
Ambubuyog, singer Fatima Soriano and actor Rome Mallari.
I was touched by the stories of
those whom I am learning about for the first time, like the artist Jovy
Sasutona who paints by holding the brush in his mouth because he is paralyzed
from the neck down, the artist Fernando Cabigting who learned to paint using
his left hand after a stroke blinded his left eye and paralyzed his right, the
athlete Raymond Martin who won multiple gold medals and hailed as Sportsman of
The Year at the 2012 Paralympics in London despite suffering from Freeman
Sheldon Syndrome.
And there are two individuals, both
athletes, whose lives touched mine in a most profound way.
Jomar Maalam, 20, was born without
legs. Yet he is a finisher at the grueling Cobra Energy Drink Ironman 70.3
Asia-Pacific Championship in Cebu, the first Ironman event outside of
Australia, and at the Mt. Mayon Triathlon in Legaspi, both in 2016. When he was
only 16, Jomar made a name for himself when, using only his arms, he won three
gold medals for swimming at the 2013 Palarong Pambansa national games.
Arnold Balais, 41, lost his right
leg when he was fifteen. Yet he won the gold medal for power-lifting in the
Malaysian Paralympics in 2002 and still holds the record in the 60-kilogram
category. He has also won silver and bronze for the 100-meter butterfly and
freestyle relay swimming at the 2008 ASEAN Paralympic Games in Thailand. With
an artificial leg, he has scaled the peak of Mt. Apo, the highest mountain in
the Philippines, and is featured in the inspiring Alaxan FR ad "Power Over
Pain."
This is a world filled with
wonderful human beings. "Many people strive for high ideals," as Max
Ehrmann wrote in Desiderata, "and everywhere, life is full of
heroism."
Jomar Maalam
Arnold Balais
Power Over Pain
Photo courtesy of SunStar.com
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