Unlike a lot of people, I don’t look up to celebrities or famous sports players as role models. I do not find being fake a trait that should be admired, or worshipped. Instead I am inspired by the everyday people whom I have met over the years. I know for a fact that these people live real lives and not fake scripted ones in order to be adored by the masses. These few people have faced real struggles and obstacles and as an effect made my ever inspired and want to be like them in a way.
Probably one of the most inspiring people in my life is one of my dad’s good friends, Steve. Over the past ten years or so he has become an extremely close family friend, and since he lives right next door he is very involved in my life. While serving in Vietnam War he was in a tank that exploded; as a result everyone in the tank with him died except for him. Overcoming that event and having the desire to continue each day after witnessing such a terrible event , shows incredible amounts of strength which can be described as nothing less than truly inspiring and a trait that I hope to behold. While serving in the war he was also exposed to radiation which caused cancer, which also lead to numerous surgeries.
He was doing fine until a few years ago when the cancer came back. It was during this time that he found out that he would never be able to talk again, they had to remove he voice box among numerous other procedures. He has always been the roughest toughest person around who was not afraid to voice his opinion no matter who was standing next to him; and he didn’t let cancer take that away from him. I never once heard him talk about his cancer, or about how his life would be different with not being able to talk. After having about a 24 hour surgery he was back to a semi-normal life in a few weeks. My dad described what he had gone through as a “live autopsy”, which no one should ever face. During his recovering, he always remained so strong, and just incredibly inspiring that I can’t fit it into words.
Steve is also very inspiring to me, since he proved that miracles do happen. Several months ago he was given a clean bill of health by his doctors, much to their surprise. A few weeks ago, he even found out that his doctors want to do a study on him, since they are amazed that he lived through everything. Instead of letting his cancer consume him and break him down; Steve fought back and now he is even stronger than what he was pre-cancer. Steve is inspiring to me not only because of his never-ending strength but also for how he handles life. He never makes me feel guilty because I can talk or eat unlike him, he just makes me feel inspired. As for Steve he can still do pretty much everything that he did before, including arguing about our government with my father and making sure that his point is across.
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