As a kid I was a huge fan of the cycling movie “American Flyers.” It is still in my top ten movies, but as I have grown older I have seen myself fitting different roles in the film. I remember thinking in High School that I wanted to be like the younger brother. I wanted to be the strong one who no one could stop. I wanted to have an untiring strength, luck with the ladies and a permanent chip on my shoulder and he to be the winner. In college, I was injury ridden, always falling off my mountain bikes or getting hurt. I snapped my mountain bike forks while riding on a flat loop at school, I flipped on a San Clemente side street and compressed my back; i.e. the invincible thing was not working. But I kept pushing.
At that time I saw myself as the older brother, injury prone and sick, always needing to succeed by thinking and out maneuvering opponents instead of raw power. Now, in grad school and in the working world I do not see myself in a character, but instead associate with the Latin phrase from the movie: “Res firma mitacre nescit.” The literal translation is “a firm thing does not know how to become soft.” It is a phrase that serves as a reminder that my convictions, desires, goals when well grounded do not change and find a way to come to the forefront, but if they were always soft there is no way to pass them off as firm.
This year I am participating in a 100 mile bike ride to raise funds for the Orange County Aids Services Foundation. The ASF was founded in the late summer of 1985 by a small group of volunteers because people were dying, had nowhere to turn, and desperately needed help.
Consider donating any amount because the firmest conviction is the will to live and the will to live does not know how to soften.
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