The Caregiver's Life

At six years old, Lonnie Ali had her first sighting of famous boxer, Muhammad Ali. They lived in the same neighborhood, and Muhammad, then called Cassius Clay, approached her and came to be one of her best friends, "an older brother figure" she called him. Through his career, and her schooling, they remained in touch. When Lonnie was 29 years old, she and Muhammad got married. She knew that he was starting to have the early signs of Parkinson's disease, but she refused to care. “I knew the man, not the celebrity,” she said. “That’s who I loved. And he knew I would always be in his corner.”

At first, his disease did almost nothing to slow him down. He continued travelling with his

family, and spending time with his wife and son. Eventually, Muhammad's Parkinson's disease got worse. Lonnie continued to care for him and at the same time, raiser their son, Asaad. She was wearing herself out and when she went to the doctors office to find out what her problem was, she fell asleep in the waiting room. The doctor told her she was simply sleep deprived.

Lonnie says she has a hard time dealing with the fact that Muhammad, once a world famous boxer, can sometimes barely walk, and will often sit in silence. However, Lonnie states that she has been with him so long, all she has to do is look at him to know what he needs. Even though Parkinson's is a tough disease, Muhammad doesn't let it get him down. He has had it for over twenty five years, and is now taking piano lessons. For awhile after Muhammad's Parkinson's disease got worse, he was uncomfortable in front of the camera. He then appeared with Michael J. Fox, another Parkinson's disease sufferer, and Lonnie thinks that is what got him so inspired.

Muhammad is now spending much of his time trying to inspire people with Parkinson's. Lonnie states that they often get letters from people with Parkinson's Disease who wouldn't even go out of the house until they saw Muhammad do it.

The question about this caregiver's story, is the idea that it may only be so inspiring to readers because it's about a person Americans have all heard of. The author is hoping that it will be hard for Americans to see that someone once so strong and powerful is now weaker and can't fully take care of himself. There are tons of people in the United States with Parkinson's disease, and many of them have their spouses as their main caregivers. However, this couple is the one in which the article was written about. The author also uses the effect that Muhammad's disease had on his family to make the reader sympathize with both Muhammad himself, and his family. Without this aspect, the story would simply be another sad one in the midst.

http://www.rd.com/make-it-matter-make-a-difference/-4-amazing-caregiving-stories/article168643.html

Catch Your Own Identity Theft?

Karen Lodrick is one of the many victims of identity theft in America. For five months, a woman stalked all of her credit information, social security information, even her drivers license information. She completely took over Lodrick's financial life. She did not just stop at taking the money Karen currently had, but she opened numerous credit card accounts in Karen's name. She tried to track this woman from banks to stores but could never quite catch up. Every time Karen closed one of the credit or debit cards, the unknown woman would open another and continue to charge a mountain of debt in Karen's name.

One morning, while in a Starbucks, Karen noticed a woman standing near her. She had some expensive designer name glasses, and was carrying a coat. Karen thought about where she had seen the woman before, and finally realized that this was the woman she had seen in the surveillance tapes of when her identity was stolen. Karen didn't know what to do, so as the woman and the man she was with sat down outside, Karen called 911 and asked for a police officer to meet her. Soon, Karen got a phone call from a friend of hers, Ed. As she was talking to Ed, the woman got up and started to leave. She looked as if she recognized Karen and got nervous. Karen told Ed that she was going to follow the woman. Ed told her to be careful, because the woman could be dangerous.

Karen started to follow the woman all across town. While following her, Karen called 911 again, this time keeping them on the line so they could keep track of where she was. As Karen was chasing her, the woman threw something in a shopping cart she passed by. Karen picked it up, noticed it was a wallet, but did not take enough time to stop and see what was in it. The woman then tried to get into a taxi, and Karen confronted her. The woman asked Karen why she was chasing her, and told Karen that if she got caught by the police she would be arrested. She then continued to run. Karen chased her for another half an hour but lost her. When the police got there, she went through the woman's wallet and found her own bank statements, pay checks, and even cue cards with her social security number, address, and drivers license information. A few minutes later, police caught the woman.

The fact that this article could have simply been written in one or two paragraphs would have taken away why it's so amazing to readers. The spacing between the paragraphs makes the readers read the article even faster as they try to find out what will happen. The author uses flashbacks in the middle of the article to give the reader background information, and to prolong the final outcome. Readers seem to find it so inspiring because Karen was on a real chase scene, however, there were no weapons involved, nor did any harm come to either women.

http://www.rd.com/your-america-inspiring-people-and-stories/catching-identity-thieves-true-stories/article50632-1.html

Finding the Long Lost Gilbert

The author, Diane Covington, is actually one of the main people this story is about. She grew up hearing stories from her father about his time away at war. Her father, Lieutenant Johnson, was in the Navy during WWII. He was stationed in France and discovered a little boy named Gilbert when he first arrived there. Gilbert was an orphan, and with Lieutenant Johnson's little bit of French, they began to communicate. Lieutenant Johnson invited Gilbert to eat with him. They begin to form a friendship, but when it comes time for Lieutenant Johnson to go back home, he inquires about the adoption of Gilbert, and is told no.

Diane had heard many stories about her father's adventures of being in the Navy, but most of them included Gilbert. She recalls how he always remembered Gilbert with fondness. He even traveled to France years after leaving the Navy and tried to look Gilbert up, but failed to find him. In 1991, Lieutenant Johnson passed away. Diane became determined to learn more about World War II, and the kind of life her father led during that time. While in France, she decided to try to find Gilbert again. It did not take much for her to find him, and they finally met. Diane and Gilbert brought their families together to meet, despite the fact that Lieutenant Johnson was no longer there to see it.

The question is however, why is this story so inspiring to the readers? It took very little for Diane to locate Gilbert and his family. She simply placed an ad in the newspaper, and Gilbert read it the next morning. She did not move Heaven and Earth to find him, did not need to hire a private investigator, and was able to meet him before she went back to America. True, it is a touching story, despite the fact that Diane's father, the one that brought them together, was not alive to see it happen. However, the author uses powerful language to make it seem so inspiring.

After meeting Gilbert, Diane learns what happened the morning Lieutenant Johnson and Gilbert said goodbye. Lieutenant Johnson tried to take Gilbert home with him, but due to a storm, and other uncontrollable events, it did not work out. Gilbert also tells Diane that Lieutenant Johnson promised him that he would come back for him, although he never did. Gilbert asks why, and for a moment, the reader realizes that this story is not as inspiring as it is made out to be. However, Diane states that Gilbert's daughter said it was "Le destin" which means destiny. By making the event sound magical, it adds an inspiring twist to the event.

Diane recounts years of emails, phone calls, and visits she has with Gilbert, his family, and her family until the story comes to a sad end. Gilbert was diagnosed with liver cancer, and passed away before Diane could make it to her last visit with him. She did however make it to his funeral in which she put in a picture of young Gilbert and her father on Gilbert's coffin.

This story is supposed to be happy, but the fact that Lieutenant Johnson was not ever able to see Gilbert again, and the fact that the story ends with Gilbert's death makes it sad. It is not as inspiring as the author wants the reader to think it is. Diane went to almost no work, and it was even easy to find Gilbert. Therefore, as touching as it is, it is no more inspiring than the average story in which an adopted child finds their biological parents.

http://www.rd.com/your-america-inspiring-people-and-stories/finding-gilbert/article134622-1.html

Father Kills Bear to Save Son

When you hear a story of a father and son hunting trip gone wrong, you get a little disappointed. When you then hear how exactly it went wrong, and what was done to save it, you perk up a bit. Ron Leming Jr. and Ron Leming Sr. take an annual hunting trip to hunt for elk. This year, they had an unexpected visitor. It was a giant grizzly bear, and it attacked Ron Leming Jr. To save his son, Ron Leming Sr. shot the bear with his bow and arrow.

The irony of this story is that in past years, while hunting, Ron Leming Sr.'s targeting has not been the best. He in fact has wondered if maybe he was getting too old to be a good hunter. He said a small prayer at the beginning of this hunting trip, asking God to give him good shooting skills. When the giant grizzly bear attacked Ron Leming Jr., Ron Leming Sr. shot the bear in a blood vessel right near his heart. The article states that this is a one in a million shot for an archer.

The question that must be asked however, is how many times has this happened? When hunters go out on hunting trips, they run the risk of running into animals that can be a danger to them. These animals are not always the friendliest, and have to sometimes attack the hunter. Ron Leming Sr. shot the grizzly bear purely with luck. If he had aimed for this particular vessel for example, one could easily doubt that he would hit his target. Many hunters have to have warded off unwanted creatures while hunting that could have posed a potential threat to them, but are any of them recognized? Not often. Why is this?

Is this because they didn't let the unwanted creature get close enough to attack them in the first place? Or because they shot it while it was close, but before it caused any physical harm? These people are heroes too, because they prevented disaster. As heroic of an act Ron Leming Sr. performed, he is not the only one who deserves credit.

Why do we find this story so inspiring? We feel like it gives us hope. If this average man can save his son's life with just one arrow, we, as average people, can save lives too. It also gives us a false sense of security. We look at Rob Leming Jr. and see how lucky he was. He literally came out of this mess with a few bumps and scrapes. This gives us the idea that when bad things happen to us, we'll end up okay. This is not true. We find this story so inspiring and we like it so much because it gives us hope. It tells us that not everything has to go wrong, that there can be happy endings in life. When we find one, we hold on to it and cling on to the hope and inspiration it gives us.

http://www.rd.com/your-america-inspiring-people-and-stories/father-kills-bear-to-save-son/article156354.html