Diana Nyad - Courageous and Determined!

Wanna hear something inspiring?

"Diana Nyad "

Simply said.... The name is inspiring enough. But here's the story anyway.

In 1979, Diana Nyad stroked her way into the history books by completing the longest swim (men or women) in written history. The path --from the island of Bimini to the Florida shore-- 102.5 miles. Apparently, that incredible record still stands today.


But here's the most inspiring part - 30 years later, Diana will make her second attempt to swim from Cuba to Florida... Yep. non-stop; sharks, sunburn, dehydration, and jelly fish included.

Her first attempt was thwarted by a storm. Here's part of what happened:

41 hours and 49 minutes later, Diana's team was pulling her out of the sea – battered, delirious, ravaged by jellyfish, scarred by the salt water; and only 50 miles from where she had started. That left her almost 60 miles from her intended landing spot see full story

Diana Nyad

In her words talking about her 102.5 mile swim: "I knew that this was going to be my last swim. I was 30 years old and I thought, it's about time I grow up and join the job market. And you know, as an athlete, it's part of the tragedy of sports, is that you have to retire when you're young. Nevertheless, I was swimming 102.5 miles, from the Bahamas to Florida, and it took a long time. It took many, many long hours. But in the end, when I saw the shore, of course, some of the perspective started flooding. But the way to do it is not to think of the big picture. It's to think of stroke by stroke and do it as perfectly as you can."




Now she's at it again.... Watch these videos taken during her 24 hour practice swim:

Impressive... I'm inspired.

How will she do it? Stroke by Stroke!

Wish her luck.

Reflections of a Man and a Book

Profiles in Courage by John F. Kennedy.......

November 22, 2008 marked the 45 Th anniversary of the assassination of John F. Kennedy. Today, for a few minutes, I contemplated the event and the motivation behind this horrific act. I wondered, what exactly did someone find so threatening or offensive about JFK that they felt compelled to orchestrate this act of violence?

Lee Harvey Oswald was charged with the murder of John F. Kennedy and he was murdered two days later by Jack Ruby before he could be put on trial. This left the assassination shrouded in mystery. In an interesting turn of events, the House Select Committee on Assassinations declared in 1979 that there was more likely a conspiracy that included Oswald. This further muddied the waters. It's not my intent to launch you into a nest of conspiracy theories but only to highlight a man and a book ......... (many of you know me well enough to know how my curiosity works -so leave me a comment if you have any ideas on the conspiracy issue)

John F. Kennedy wrote Profiles in Courage while recovering from a back injury in 1955. In this book he chronicles acts of astounding personal and political courage. This is perhaps a book that should sit on a shelf in the homes of all Americans. And in consideration of the upcoming political and economic challenges we will face in the next few years, it might be well worth the read!