[17958] in APO-L
A life lesson, perhaps?
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Richard Edward Vehlow)
Sat Dec 13 17:39:41 1997
Date: Sat, 13 Dec 1997 17:38:31 -0500
Reply-To: Richard Edward Vehlow <vehlor@RPI.EDU>
From: Richard Edward Vehlow <vehlor@RPI.EDU>
To: Multiple recipients of list APO-L <APO-L@VM.CC.PURDUE.EDU>
Here's a new topic- if not to discuss, then to ponder.
Yesterday I went to a funeral for a cancer victim only 28 years old. (my age)
His life was too short but in that time, he accomplished a lot. Not only did
he run a business while he was sick, but he was active in my chapter of the
US Junior Chamber of Commerce. He was president and most recently, served as
the East New York Region chair (similar to an APO Section Chair). All this
while at the same time going to any of a half-dozen hospitals and cancer
centers for chemo and other radical treatments.
The accomplishments and ordeal of his illness and untimely passing were
talked about in well over an hour-and-a-half of eulogies at the service.
Ken Tarler never seemed to me to show stress or discouragement, even during
his illness ( actually, I hadn't known him prior to his diagnosis). He just
went out and did what he wanted to do in the time he had left (originally
6 months, but he lived for two years with the cancer.) And as far as I know,
he had a plan and stuck with the program til he accomplished what he set out
to do.
Hopefully, no one out there in APO-land will be in the same extreme situation
as this, but whenever you're faced in your APO chapter, in school or in your
life with a seemingly insurmountable project or task workload, remember that
"when there's a will, there's a way", and the above example is an all-too-
tragic embodiment of that principle.
-REV
