1. Watch This Video (It’s 9 Minutes Long – If you are at work and can’t watch it now, watch it when you get home. If you can’t find the time when you get home to watch something that could possibly change your life forever… well, I feel for you because you need this more than anyone)
2. Tell Me What You Think – If this video inspired you or made you rethink a lot of things in your life, please leave a comment.
3. Share This on Facebook or email it to your friends – It’s a little disturbing to me to see videos of teen nonsense that have 20 million views and a story like this has only been seen by a tiny fraction of the world population. How many people do you know that could benefit from seeing such an incredible story of devotion?
For our blog readers that are hearing impaired, here is a basic synopsis of what you’ll see in this video.
For more than 20 years, Dick Hoyt has either towed, pushed or carried Rick in a string of athletic challenges including every Boston Marathon since 1981 and, most recently, last month’s Ironman Triathlon World Championships in Hawaii.
For that event, competitors have to swim 2 1/2 miles through the ocean and then peddle a bicycle 112 miles before running a hilly, 26.2-mile marathon.
In the triathlon swim, Rick lies on his back in a rubber raft attached by rope to a wetsuit vest worn by his father. In the bike portion, Rick sits in a chair attached to the front of Dick’s bike, and on the run, Dick pushes Rick in the race chair.
This year, it took them 16 hours and 14 minutes to finish the 140-mile day of reckoning — about two hours slower than their first try, in 1989. But time isn’t the point. Teamwork is. The Hoyts are the only tandem ever to complete the Ironman Triathlon World Championships together. ‘The biggest smile you ever saw in your life’
The spark for this lifetime of patience and devotion was ignited in 1977.
The teen-age Rick asked his father if he could participate in a five-kilometer (3.1 mile) race to benefit an athlete paralyzed in an accident. Dick agreed and pushed his son the entire distance in a jerry-rigged chair that now resides in the Massachusetts Sports Hall of Fame.
As they crossed the finish line that day, Rick flashed “the biggest smile you ever saw in your life,” his father told CNN. When they got home, Rick went to a specially built computer that allowed him to communicate using a head switch to select letters and spell out words.
The message Rick typed, expressing his joy of feeling “like I wasn’t handicapped,” began an odyssey of love that continues to this day, taking father and son to competitions around the world. It even inspired Dick to learn how to swim.
“He’s the one who has motivated me because if it wasn’t for him, I wouldn’t be out there competing,” says Dick. “What I’m doing is loaning Rick my arms and legs so he can be out there competing like everybody else.”
What did you think about this video and story, please leave a comment and share your thoughts…
Amazing! Thank you so much for sharing this my mom needs to see this. I’m almost embarrassed to think how many times I have said “I can’t do it” or “I don’t have the time”. I can’t believe how powerful that was, you have my word that I will tackle challenges in life with a whole new perspective.
I re-posted this on facebook as you suggested.
Love Your Blog Posts, Keep Them Coming:)
This is the right video to show to younger viewers. I hope it gets the message across to seize life and to live it to the fullest, because you never know what is around the corner. Like me, l have 2 slipped discs in my lumber region, sciatica, an inflamed coxxyx and oesteoarthritis. This leaves rne in so much pain, virtually housebound and depressed. I would love to do what Rick did but l haven’t the willpower nor the strength or ability. so go on youngsters don’t lounge on benefits give life a go before it is too late!!!!!….
Kathleen, thanks for the comments. Perhaps your body is holding you back but your mind is still strong. Use your passion to do something amazing with your mind:)
Thank You for sharing this inspirational video. I’d seen it before but it never gets old and the tears are rolling down my face. It shows the power of a father’s love and his lifelong determination to give his son the best life possible, no matter how difficult it may be. Identify your passion, then pursue it with all your heart, mind and body.
Ginny! Great points.. I have also seen this before and I watch it along with a few other videos atleast once a month as a reminder of what’s really important!
Simply beautiful and awe inspiring. Thank you for sharing.
A beautful video. As a Christian I can not help but identify how my heavenly Father does everything for me, and for any of us that love Him and know Him as Saviour and LORD.
All things are possible with God and I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me are two important Scriptures I claim. I thank God for His selfless sacrifice and I see in this video a practical and relateable example of how much this reminds me of all He does for me and will do through me if I am surrendered.
Thank you for sharing this beautiful video.
God Bless that father and son.
I have seen it many times before, but it gets better for each time. I am sure I will watch it again and again and…… Should be required watching for all students when they start every semester.
Thanks for sharing this video it was very moving. The message is very powerful love can motivate us to do anything and cope with anything. If we love ourselves as much we should be able to do anything we want. We are worth it so put your heart, mind and body into everthing you desire.
At the beginning of this year we had a car accident and I broke my sternum, took a bit of recovery couldn’t do much gave up coffee due to it not mixing with meds and guess what… my back is all fixed must of been the coffee causing me back pain.
If you can”t find motivation in this video you didn”t realy watch it. The old addage comes to mind no matter what you think If you believe you can YOU CAN and if you believe you can”t you are right again
I cried at the end of this video! To see how much Dick and the whole family love their son and brother and that they didn’t listen to the medic’s and give up on Rick. To see how much Rick’s dad does for him, just outstanding and amazing! A real inspiration to all who see this video. THANK YOU.
This was an unbelievable story of commitment of father and son to each other and of lessons for us all. Bravo!
Saw this for the first time and I cried. Seeing and feeling the depth of love and dedication that is in this family is heart warming. Courage and determination to do what one believes is right, no matter what it takes; to think outside the box, be prepared to be unique and different….. What an example to us all. Thank you
Now I know that I can do anything. Because if he can do it, I can!
What a wonderful and inspirational reminder of just how precious a life is! In our “death culture” of abortion and abandonment of millions of children, this father truly loves his son sacrificially and is “there for him”. In this short video, the power of love is magnanimously
displayed! So glad I saw it and will share it gladly.
Why no video? Each time I’ve received your emails there’s a black space for your video of the moment, but I’ve never been able to activate it. That’s many, many videos unseen in the long time that I’ve been receiving your newsletter. They sound interesting. Maybe you’ll let me see them sometime.
Emil Soderberg