Why me mode, continued...

Lifetime Art Impressions, LLC photo

Click on the below article link to obtain background information to this blog post:

Examiner article

I am a sucker for a story of inspiration like the one shared in Amy Anderson’s article that I linked to in mine piece. Can you imagine being deaf and blind and still being able to find a way to dwell on your blessings instead of your sorrows? If anyone has a right to feel sorry for his or herself, a blind and deaf person is entitled. But instead, this young adult uses her story to inspire others to find joy in their lives.

If you clicked onto Amy’s article you would have read that this women did recover her hearing through surgery. I’m sure this changed her world.

Think about your life, now think of it without sound and in darkness, pretty drastic shift, huh?

Whatever you are going through, you can overcome it. You have a glass half full not a glass half empty. Persevere...

She was the only survivor, continued...

Photo of Darcy Keith taken by Sears Photography

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Examiner article

I applaud Darcy for her strength and perseverance. Her story is awe-inspiring. Most would shy away from such a traumatic scenario. No one chooses to be involved in a fatal car crash during the prime of their life but when it is forced upon you, you can choose to pick up the pieces and make the most out of the circumstances or stop living. Darcy chose to live and to live with intent. She lost several friends in the car crash and suffered mentally and physically. She had to completely start over. Today she funnels all of her energy into coaching others on how to achieve remarkable success and overcome anything that attempts to block this journey. Darcy genuinely leads by example. The world seriously needs more courageous people like Darcy Keith!

Click here to learn more about her and make contact.

Her ship sank at sea, continued...

Photo of Pam on ship.

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Examiner article

Pamela Bitterman shared an insert from her book, Sailing To The Far Horizon; The Restless Journey and Tragic Sinking of a Tall Ship:
“Perhaps one of the most difficult tasks that we are expected to accomplish in this life arrives in the aftermath of such a dreadful ordeal. Be it a war, act of violence, illness, accident, profound personal loss, or disaster at sea, we must then shoulder the awesome burden of how to incorporate this reality-altering experience in our lives. If we convince ourselves that we must be better human beings for having endured, do we search for new meaning? If we dare ask “Why me?” do we commit ourselves to finding an answer? If, during the course of our traumatic experience, we attain a heightened level of consciousness, must we forever after engage in an earnest struggle to regain that elevated state of being? And should we attempt to share the details of the ordeal? Because far too often, language is so piteously inadequate to convey the true depth of emotion that we feel that we end up trivializing it. We are then left with the sick empty sensation of having betrayed something vitally personal. In the final analysis many of us who survive such a test feel bilked. We realize that we may not have survived because we were chosen, and we therefore should not expect to experience some cosmic rebirth. We are only mortal. We are flawed. And for a time we are hopelessly lost and desperately alone.” It has been more than a quarter century since the disaster. I have moved on, and life has filled up the spaces left in the wake of the Sofia. I expect it has been so for us all.
We are today as we existed then – separate beings who once combined on a magical stage to form one fantastic, albeit temporary, ensemble.” And I will feel an imperishable connection to that time; the people, the places, and the incomparable adventures. Perhaps I will always be looking to recreate the enchantment of an era and a world now long gone, but never forgotten.”

Her book is published by Terrace Books, a trade imprint of The University of Wisconsin Press, 2004.

Pamela and her husband honor and memorialized this time through the names of their children, Rigel and Hallie.

In Pamela’s words, “Our children were given proud names that honor our sailing adventure and memorialize the events. Our son is named for a prominent navigational star, the brightest star in the universe. Our daughter’s name means lover of the sea. They are both amazing human beings.”

Click here to visit Pamela’s website where you can learn more about her and her work.