Superman

One of the many great benefits of speaking at arena events and corporate conventions is getting to share the stage with amazing people.  As a platform speaker, I’ve had the privilege of working with some of the greatest people of the 20th and now the 21st centuries.  I will never forget speaking at an event in Chicago with Christopher Reeve.  We were booked to appear at an insurance industry annual event called The Million Dollar Round Table. This event is considered to be the Superbowl of corporate conventions and attracts the elite top performers in the insurance industry. 

 I remember being excited to be invited to participate and to get to work with Christopher Reeve.  It was several years after his horrible accident, so he was in a motorized wheelchair breathing with the aid of a ventilator.  As a blind person myself, I was getting ready to protest that the event organizers were requiring me to make an extra trip to Chicago for rehearsals, but when I learned that Christopher Reeve politely and professionally agreed to travel to the rehearsals, I kept my mouth shut.

 Working on large stages at arena events as a blind person has never been easy or convenient, but when I became aware of what Christopher Reeve had to go through to travel, prepare, and speak at an event, I vowed to never complain again.  Christopher Reeve will forever be remembered as Superman in the movies.  As that fictional, heroic character, he was faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive, and could leap tall buildings in a single bound.  But working with him when he was in a motorized wheelchair breathing with the aid of a ventilator, I met a real superhero.

 Christopher Reeve was fond of saying, “Things that are thought to be impossible become improbable, and then inevitable.”  It was that sort of attitude and thinking that made Christopher Reeve Superman on and off the screen.  Anything worthy of our attention and effort should seem impossible at first, then with effort will become improbable, and as we continue to focus our effort and energy, it will become inevitable.

 Countless things that we take for granted today were impossible at one time.  The next time you see Superman streaking across the sky in a movie, remember the real Superman behind the character.

As you go through your day today, focus on the impossible, and wait for the inevitable.

 Today’s the day!