Amazing Human Stories

[Fragile Bird]

Numerous times in the last few years I've read stories about people who have just impressed the heck out of me for their grace, or courage, or fortitude, or generosity, or their ability to rise above the circumstances they find themselves in. They are not stories you usually start a thread about, but I thought people might have stories they've come across that really impressed them as well.

Just this past week there was a story about a gentleman in Detroit, James Robertson, who for the last 10 years has walked 21 miles to work and back, 5 days a week, never missing a day of work. His car broke down and he could not afford a new one, and public transportation could not take him to work. I knew the bus service in Detroit was bad, but I didn't know it was that bad.

Someone who saw the story started a funding project on the internet for him and has raised $150,000 already.

http://www.theroot.com/articles/news/2015/02/detroit_man_who_walks_21_miles_to_work_is_rewarded_by_strangers.html?wpisrc=policymic

Detroit native James Robertson's 1998 Honda Accord quit on him some 10 years ago, but he didn't quit on life. For 10 years since losing his wheels, Robertson has walked some 21 miles a day, to and from his house in Detroit to his factory job in Rochester Hills, Mich., and in more than 10 years, Robertson hasn't missed a day of work.

The Detroit Free Press Sunday profiled Robertson and the journey that takes him from his home starting around 8 a.m., which gives him enough time to make his 2 p.m. shift. He then works till 10 p.m. and rewinds his trek back home. With no buses to take him directly to and from his job, the path he takes is a mix of timing, walking and more walking. He has done this five days a week, in Detroit weather, for 10 years. And, it needs repeating, he hasn't missed a day. Robertson told the newspaper that he doesn't make enough money to afford a car, and with no co-workers living near him, he isn't able to catch a ride.

"I set our attendance standard by this man," his boss, Todd Wilson, told the Detroit Free Press. "I say if this man can get here, walking all those miles through snow and rain, well, I'll tell you, I have people in Pontiac, 10 minutes away, and they say they can't get herebull! He's never missed. I've seen him come in here wringing wet."

He reminds me of a client I once had, a man who in his life never made more than minimum wage, never owned a car, came from a broken family, yet had determination, worked at his job conscientiously, got married, raised two smart kids, bought a house, had no mortgage, and had more than $100,000 tucked away in his retirement plan. Yes, he did not experience things many of us take for granted, he and his wife lived a frugal life, but his kids were already several steps higher on the social rung than their parents.

Do you have stories like this in mind? I originally wanted to talk about people who were incredibly generous. Some time ago there was a story about parents out in western Canada who had a seriously ill child who needed treatment in the US, and an anonymous American donor gave them $1 million. Or a story I heard years ago, about an elderly lady in the US who lived a modest life, and upon her death shocked the heck out of everyone by leaving her estate to, iirc, the public library system in her town, more than $3 million. She didn't inherit anything, she saved her money and bought shares of good companies all her life.

[Arkhangel]

Captain Mbaye Diagne. A Senegalese UN peacekeeper during the Rwandan genocide who repeatedly defied his orders of non-interference as well as international law to carry out rescue operations under the noses of the militia. He single-handedly saved dozens, possibly hundreds of people, but was himself killed when his car was shelled in 1994. A hero in the truest sense of the word, whose story deserves to be better known than it is.

[Fragile Bird]

I have heard many incredible stories out of Rwanda, because of the stories told here in Canada by former General Romeo Dallaire. Captain Diagne is indeed a man who should be remembered. :)

[rocksniffer]

Numerous times in the last few years I've read stories about people who have just impressed the heck out of me for their grace, or courage, or fortitude, or generosity, or their ability to rise above the circumstances they find themselves in. They are not stories you usually start a thread about, but I thought people might have stories they've come across that really impressed them as well.

Just this past week there was a story about a gentleman in Detroit, James Robertson, who for the last 10 years has walked 21 miles to work and back, 5 days a week, never missing a day of work. His car broke down and he could not afford a new one, and public transportation could not take him to work. I knew the bus service in Detroit was bad, but I didn't know it was that bad.

Someone who saw the story started a funding project on the internet for him and has raised $150,000 already.

http://www.theroot.com/articles/news/2015/02/detroit_man_who_walks_21_miles_to_work_is_rewarded_by_strangers.html?wpisrc=policymic

He reminds me of a client I once had, a man who in his life never made more than minimum wage, never owned a car, came from a broken family, yet had determination, worked at his job conscientiously, got married, raised two smart kids, bought a house, had no mortgage, and had more than $100,000 tucked away in his retirement plan. Yes, he did not experience things many of us take for granted, he and his wife lived a frugal life, but his kids were already several steps higher on the social rung than their parents.

Do you have stories like this in mind? I originally wanted to talk about people who were incredibly generous. Some time ago there was a story about parents out in western Canada who had a seriously ill child who needed treatment in the US, and an anonymous American donor gave them $1 million. Or a story I heard years ago, about an elderly lady in the US who lived a modest life, and upon her death shocked the heck out of everyone by leaving her estate to, iirc, the public library system in her town, more than $3 million. She didn't inherit anything, she saved her money and bought shares of good companies all her life.

i saw this story on the news...it is over 250,000 dollars now...shocking how people can give when they want to...

[Tears of Lys]

Hey, Fragile!

That OP story has been all over the news (I live just outside of Detroit.)

I was thinking of starting a thread about "The Walking Man," as he's known around here. I guess I've grown so jaded that I was still half fearing that something was going to break in the story - that it would turn out to all be a scam. So far, all's on the up and up. I hope it continues to be.

It makes me a bit angry that he's been working at this job for a LONG time, and yet he only makes a few dollars over minimum wage.

[Wise Fool]

Well, I'm sure CEO's of big corporations walk ten thousand times as far every day to work, thus deserving of their salary.

/digression.

[Ormond]

I do think the Walking Man is admirable -- but I really dislike the aspect of the story where his boss seems to think that if he can do it all of his employees can.

Though the walking itself would be good for his health, I am really concerned about the lack of sleep implied in the story. It seems to me that he only has about four hours at home every day.

There are of course individual differences in everything and there are a very few people in the world who could get by with just four hours of sleep every night. But those are very rare people -- most of us would be harming our health, and our productivity at work, if we tried to get by on that little sleep every week night for decades.

I hope this guy gets enough money so that he can retire, not just buy a car.

[Arkhangel]

I just did the calculations and he has spent roughly 3.5 years just walking. That's quite sad, especially when you think of all the time he must have missed with his family.

[Larry of the Lawn]

I do think the Walking Man is admirable -- but I really dislike the aspect of the story where his boss seems to think that if he can do it all of his employees can.

Though the walking itself would be good for his health, I am really concerned about the lack of sleep implied in the story. It seems to me that he only has about four hours at home every day.

There are of course individual differences in everything and there are a very few people in the world who could get by with just four hours of sleep every night. But those are very rare people -- most of us would be harming our health, and our productivity at work, if we tried to get by on that little sleep every week night for decades.

I hope this guy gets enough money so that he can retire, not just buy a car.

Agreed. The boss kind of sounds like a corporate-Stahkanite trying to get.evrything possible out if his employees regardless of the human cost.

[Impmk2]

I'm not sure why he wouldn't just buy a cheap bike? Would cut the commute by a few hours each way and no fuel costs.

[Tears of Lys]

I'm not sure why he wouldn't just buy a cheap bike? Would cut the commute by a few hours each way and no fuel costs.

According to one of his coworkers, his joints are in extremely bad shape - so much so that he'd be in too much pain to pedal a bike. And it's winter here. There are snow piles all over the place. Trying to pedal a bike around them would be much harder than just walking around them, or through them.

And he's not a fast walker, just a diligent one.

[Fragile Bird]

On the topic of an elderly person leaving their money to the library or the hospital, another one came up today. A gentleman named Ronald Read, who died last June at the age of 92, lived a frugal life in Vermont. He worked at a gas station for years and then as a janitor.

Left $4.8 million dollars to the Brattleboro hospital and $1.2 million to the Brooks Memorial Library. His hobby was investing.

Fantastic that a man with the last name of Read left money to the library. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/02/04/man-leaves-millions-to-library_n_6616416.html

A Vermont man who sometimes held his coat together with safety pins and had a long-time habit of foraging for firewood also had a knack for picking stocks — a talent that became public after his death when he bequeathed $6 million to his local library and hospital.

The investments made by Ronald Read, a former gas station employee and janitor who died in June at age 92, "grew substantially" over the years, said his attorney Laurie Rowell.

Read, who was known for his flannel shirt and baseball cap, gave no hint of the size of his fortune.

"He was unbelievably frugal," Rowell said Wednesday. When Read visited her office, "sometimes he parked so far away so he wouldn't have to pay the meter."

I think they are emphasizing a bit too much of the frugal, he ate at the Friendly's (an east coast chain) every day, and went to a coffee shop for breakfast every day as well. And I look for side street parking so I don't have to pay at the meter as well. :P It couldn't have been that hard in a small town like Brattleboro.

But stories like these pop up fairly regularly, and I think it says a lot for people who find happiness living a modest life. Worth thinking about. :)

[S John]

I love that the guy was a millionaire and never told anybody. In a world where wealth can open a lot of doors and many people can't even keep what they had for lunch to themselves, I respect the hell out of that.

[Fragile Bird]

Sorry to drag cracked into this for anyone dislikes the site, but this list is pretty much this thread...

http://www.cracked.com/article_20252_6-insane-true-stories-more-badass-than-any-action-movie.html

Those stories are indeed more badass than an action movie. :)

However, rather than stories about violence, I was thinking about people who lead exemplary lives, or who toil quietly for good, or rise above poverty or suffering to help their neighbours. The refugee who left Viet Nam on a raft with 35 other people, sat in a camp for eight years, immigrated to North American, and then helped 87 people leave the refugee camp kind of story. I expect there is a real life story out there very similar to that. :)

[Fragile Bird]

Having heard a number of stories about people who have terminal cancer in the past couple of weeks, it was with great sadness I heard this morning that Dr. Oliver Sacks wrote an op-ed in the New York Times about receiving his news about liver cancer and how he has reacted to it.

I add this story here because his reaction is beautiful. Many people react the same way he has, but we never hear of them because they are not famous people and the NYT is not going to grant them the space on the op-ed page.

Over the last few days, I have been able to see my life as from a great altitude, as a sort of landscape, and with a deepening sense of the connection of all its parts. This does not mean I am finished with life.

On the contrary, I feel intensely alive, and I want and hope in the time that remains to deepen my friendships, to say farewell to those I love, to write more, to travel if I have the strength, to achieve new levels of understanding and insight.
This will involve audacity, clarity and plain speaking; trying to straighten my accounts with the world. But there will be time, too, for some fun (and even some silliness, as well).
.....

I cannot pretend I am without fear. But my predominant feeling is one of gratitude. I have loved and been loved; I have been given much and I have given something in return; I have read and traveled and thought and written. I have had an intercourse with the world, the special intercourse of writers and readers.

Above all, I have been a sentient being, a thinking animal, on this beautiful planet, and that in itself has been an enormous privilege and adventure.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/19/opinion/oliver-sacks-on-learning-he-has-terminal-cancer.html?_r=0

[Larry of the Lawn]

Posting this here because it seems on topic, but I think the subject of this would object to it being included under the umbrella of 'amazing.' It's a podcast of This American Life about a blind man that uses echolocation to navigate, and it made a pretty decent impression on me.

I liked how Daniel and especially his mother refused to accept that his condition imposed certain limitations on him. I liked how his story demonstrated the power of the mind and how well people can adapt to what life gives them.

Sort of a dark side to the story of his childhood too when he talks about another blind student at his school and how he'd bully Adam because Adam had been raised as if his blindness prevented him from being independent. Daniel was never told that he couldn't do things that everyone else did and didn't want to be associated with someone he considered 'weak'.

There's a lot going on here, and the study mentioned at the beginning involving rats and the power of expectations and suggestion was a nice way to set the stage for Daniel's story.

If you've got the time, I enjoyed listening to this.

eta: here's a poptech video about the same guy, interesting sure, but lacks the context of the TAL piece.

[Fragile Bird]

I heard that American Life piece about echolocation. It's cool. :)

[3CityApache]

And he's not a fast walker, just a diligent one.

If the distance he walks is really 21 miles (about 30 km ) one way, and he's not a fast walker, then it probably takes him about 5 hours to get to work and another 5 to get back. Plus 8 hours at work. That leaves just 6 hours a day for any other activities including eating and sleeping. How is that even possible?

[Knight Of Winter]

I do remember once hearing a story about marathon champion whose only "training" was walking/running to his kilometers-long place of work every day for several years. He lived in an remote village of an African country where public transportation was scarce, as he was way too poor to afford himself a car.

More recently I listened to this amazing story on Ted's youtube channel. Short version: it's about a Chinese girl who, fearing for her safety, stopped going to school when she was 13 or so. Having no teachers, she gave herself a task of learning English by herself. She did eventually succeed, and her knowledge of English enabled her to masquerade as a guide to an American who was in China on business. They talked a lot, and with his help she managed to get an visa for USA where she enrolled in an university, which she is now finishing. And a guy and his wife adopted her.