Experience is not what happens to a man. It is what a man does with what happens to him. Aldous Huxley
What if at age 46 you were burned beyond recognition in a terrible motorcycle accident, and then four years later were paralyzed from the waist down in an airplane crash? Then, can you imagine yourself becoming a millionaire, a respected public speaker, a happy newlywed and a successful business person? Can you see yourself going white water rafting? Sky diving? Running for political office?
W. Mitchell has done all these things and more after two horrible accidents left his face a quilt of multicoloredskin grafts, his hands fingerless and his legs thin and motionless in a wheelchair.
The 16 surgeries Mitchell endured after the motorcycle accident burned more than 65 percent of his body, left him unable to pick up a fork, dial a telephone or go to the bathroom without help. But Mitchell, a formerMarine, never believed he was defeated. "I am in charge of my own spaceship," he said. "It's my up, my down. I could choose to see this situation as a setback or a starting point." Six moths later he was piloting a plane again.
Mitchell bought himself a Victorian home in Colorado, some real estate, a plane and a bar. Later he teamed up with two friends and co-founded a wood burning stove company that grew to be Vermont's second largest private employer.
Then four years after the motorcycle accident, the plane Mitchell was piloting crashed back onto the runway during takeoff, crushing Mitchell's 12thoracic vertebrasand permanently paralyzing him from the waist down. "I wondered what the hell was happening to me. What did I do to deserve this?"
Undaunted, Mitchell worked day and night to regain as much independence as possible. He was elected Mayor of Crested Butte, Colorado, to save the town from mineral mining that would ruin its beauty and environment. Mitchell later ran for Congress, turning his odd appearance into an asset with slogans such as, "Not just another pretty face."
Despite his initially shocking looks and physical challenges, Mitchell began white water rafting, he fell in love and married, earned a master's degree in public administration and continued flying, environmental activism and public speaking.
Mitchell's unshakable Positive Mental Attitude has earned him appearances on the "Today Show" and "Good Morning America" as well as feature articles in parade, Time, The New York Times and other publications.
"Before I was paralyzed, there were 10,000 I could do," Mitchell says. "Now there are 9,000. I can either dwell on the 1,000 I lost or focus on the 9,000 I have left. I tell people that I have had two big bumps in my life. If I have chosen not of the experiences you are having which are pulling you back can be put into a new perspective. You can step back, take a wider view and have a chance to say, "Maybe that isn't such a big deal after all."
Remember: "It's not what happens to you, it's what you do about it."
--Jack Canfield and Mark V. Hansen
Questions:
1.What happened to Mitchell when he was 46?
2.Is he married?
请你放下双手
让我做一只雄鹰
国际英语资讯:Turkey reports 1,186 new COVID-19 cases, 155,686 in total
疾呼暴风雨
请让我们摔跤吧!
国际英语资讯:China-Laos railways tracks go through 1st tunnel
国内英语资讯:China Focus: Foreign firms confident as epidemic wanes in China
一次对学生随笔的浏览
有一种爱叫放手
找到自己的位置
多一些空间,少一些关注
我的哭泣
三岔口
秋千月
“三顾茅庐”的求贤之道
两棵花
放开手,勇敢飞
困难非吾畏
国际英语资讯:Pakistan conveys condolences to India, Bangladesh over cyclone losses
爱我,别把我搂太紧
体坛英语资讯:F1 team Williams furlough staff as drivers take pay cut
促进经济增长 积极的财政政策更加积极有为
不要被呵护
冰糖葫芦
让我们自己爬起来
肩膀
跌倒了,渴望自己站起来
体坛英语资讯:Masters moves to November as majors reschedule amid COVID-19 pandemic
让我自己飞翔
保护环境
不限 |
英语教案 |
英语课件 |
英语试题 |
不限 |
不限 |
上册 |
下册 |
不限 |