Charlie Simpson, goddamned hero
I want to introduce you to someone. I heard about him on NPR today. His name is Charlie Simpson, and, like me, he is a charity cyclist. His current charity is the UNICEF fund for Haiti.
Charlie is also a stone-cold, earned-his-wings, goddamned, "Bob"damned hero of humanity.
Why? Not because of his athleticism. His charity ride, I believe his first of what will be a lifelong career, was a mere 5 mile cruise around a local park.
It's because Charlie is 7 years old and has raised 160,000 GBP on his charity ride. Just stop and think about that for a second. Here. Let me add a picture of the lad. This kid:
...has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for disaster relief in Haiti, just because he decided to find something he could do about the utter horror he saw on television. His parents, of course, encouraged him, which means they get the most awesome assist credits that could ever grace a cosmic stats sheet. Fuck it. The whole family are a bunch of goddamned heroes.
You can read the whole story here. I'm so glad to see parents encourage this in a child. My parents raised me with a sense of charity, and Scouting instilled in me the need for my civic, national, and global duty, but I feel I can very specifically sympathize with Charlie.
Why? Because the world is a really horrible place, and there's not much I can do. But I have a bike and legs to use it. I have a mouth and words to speak which my enemies cannot gainsay or deny. And goddamnit, I will use them.
Charlie did, and look what happened.
Charlie is also a stone-cold, earned-his-wings, goddamned, "Bob"damned hero of humanity.
Why? Not because of his athleticism. His charity ride, I believe his first of what will be a lifelong career, was a mere 5 mile cruise around a local park.
It's because Charlie is 7 years old and has raised 160,000 GBP on his charity ride. Just stop and think about that for a second. Here. Let me add a picture of the lad. This kid:
...has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for disaster relief in Haiti, just because he decided to find something he could do about the utter horror he saw on television. His parents, of course, encouraged him, which means they get the most awesome assist credits that could ever grace a cosmic stats sheet. Fuck it. The whole family are a bunch of goddamned heroes.
You can read the whole story here. I'm so glad to see parents encourage this in a child. My parents raised me with a sense of charity, and Scouting instilled in me the need for my civic, national, and global duty, but I feel I can very specifically sympathize with Charlie.
Why? Because the world is a really horrible place, and there's not much I can do. But I have a bike and legs to use it. I have a mouth and words to speak which my enemies cannot gainsay or deny. And goddamnit, I will use them.
Charlie did, and look what happened.