Have you ever thought of the incredible power of determination? I believe we are much more powerful than we imagine.
An eight-year-old boy, Glenn Cunningham had the job of making fire in the coal stove, at school to keep the class warm.
One day, the learners and teacher found the classroom in flames, with Glenn trapped inside. With major burns over the lower half of his body he was taken to hospital.
The doctor told his mother that her son would die; the fire destroyed the lower half of his body. His mother refused to let the doctors amputate. He decided he would survive and won’t be a cripple.
To the amazement of the physician, he survived. But unfortunately from the waist down, Glenn had no motor ability.Ultimately Glenn was released from the hospital. Even with daily massages, he still had no feeling.
Yet his determination that he would walk was as strong as ever. He was confined to a wheelchair most of the time.
One day his mother wheeled him out into the yard. This day, instead of sitting there, he threw himself off the chair.
Glenn pulled himself across the grass, dragging his legs behind him. With great effort, he raised himself up on the fence, and began dragging himself along the fence. He did this every day leaving a path around the yard.
With Glenn’s persistence and determination, he developed the ability first to stand up, then to walk with help, then to walk by himself, and then miraculously, to run.He ran everywhere for the sheer joy of running and being able to run.
In college, Glenn made the track team where his tremendous determination paid off. In 1934, in New York City the young man who was not expected to survive, who would surely never walk, Dr. Glenn Cunningham, ran the mile in four minutes and eight seconds, the world’s fastest indoor mile!
May we find ways to tap into and use this power of determination for the good.
