*
If we worked on the assumption that what is accepted as true really is true, then there would be little hope for advance.
âOrville Wright
â UNSTOPPABLE â
team hoyt
Father and son. Long-distance runners.
Although Rick Hoyt is profoundly disabled, he has competed with his father Dick in over one thousand marathons, triathlons, ironman competitions, and other long-distance events.
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W hen Dick and Judy Hoytâs son was born with cerebral palsy, unable to walk or talk, the doctors told them to just âput him away.â
No, they decided.
Theyâd push him, pull him, theyâd carry him along.
But heâd never be left behind.
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When the public schools said there was no place for Rick, his parents found a computer that would write his thoughts from the few head movements he could make.
At ten, he spoke his first sentence. âGo Bruins!â
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In high school, Rick learned of a five-mile charity run for a newly paralyzed teenager.
Rick told his father they had to do something to send a message that life goes on.
Even though he wasnât a runner, Dick never hesitated.
Heâd run the race, pushing Rickâs wheelchair the whole way.
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They finished next to last. It was a victory.
That night, Rick typed out these words: âDad, when Iâm running, it feels like my disability disappears.â
Dickâs mission was clear.
He kept running, Rick always out in front.
234 triathlons, 67 marathons, 6 ironmans.
Rick Hoyt still canât walk.
But with his father, they both fly. *
Team Hoytâs motto: Yes you can.
â FANTASISTS â
joe shuster and jerry siegel
Inventors of the first superhero.
The creators of Supermanâand Clark Kentâshowed the world that the most ordinary of us can turn out to be the most heroic.
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T hey werenât good-looking.
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They werenât popular.
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And they were so poor that they used to draw on the back of butcherâs paper.
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But they were two best friends.
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With one dream.
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At the brink of World War II, in the midst of the Great Depression, two kids from Cleveland didnât just give us the worldâs first superhero.
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They gave us something to believe in. *
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The trouble with this, kid, is that itâs too sensational. Nobody would believe it.
âOne of the first rejection letters for Superman
â NEIGHBOR â
mr. rogers
Television host of Mister Rogersâ Neighborhood.
With little more than a cardigan and a friendly smile, Fred Rogers spent nearly forty years using public television to teach kindnessâjust kindnessâto children. Did it work? After thieves stole Mr. Rogersâs car, the story was broadcast on TV and in newspapers. The car was returned in two days.
The note in the car read: âIf weâd known it was yours, we never would have taken it.â
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H is parents were so worried about his hay fever, they kept him inside for an entire summer.
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He had nothing to play with except for a toy piano and some homemade hand puppets.
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Freddie made the best of it. He had his imagination.
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He didnât need anything else. *
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Knowing that we can be loved exactly as we are gives us all the best opportunity for growing into the healthiest of people.
âFred Rogers
When a bubbleâs gone, you donât see it anymore with your eyes. And when an opera is over, you donât hear it anymore with your ears. But you can remember it. You can remember what bubbles look like and what operas sound like and what friends feel like. And youâll always have them with you in your memory.
âFred Rogers
â LAWBREAKER â
miep gies
Found and preserved Anne Frankâs diary.
Risking her life for those of her friends, Miep Gies protected eight people in a cramped annexâOtto Frank and his family of four, the Van Pels and their son, and an elderly
J. K. Accinni
Mari Carr
Chris Kennedy
Ann Christy
Robert T. Jeschonek
Rachel Abbott
Michele Jaffe
T.W. Piperbrook
Sandra Sookoo
J.R. WRIGHT