I have a guilty pleasure. It is tame by most accounts; every Sunday morning while the Professor is still sleeping, I enjoy watching episodes of ‘Say Yes To The Dress!’ The allure is not because I need nor want a wedding dress, Lord knows I’ve done that enough! My attraction to the show is more than dress dreaming, it’s more like by my viewing the show I feel like I am invited into a very special moment in the lives of these happy people.
This morning was no exception. Today’s show was about this absolutely lovely young bride-to-be and her intended groom who was wheel-chair bound. In keeping with the show’s format, Randy Fenoli, one of the stars of the show, asks…’How did you meet your fiancé ?’ The story this young woman told was nothing short of dazzling. She explained to Randy that her fiancé , while playing football during his freshman year of college, met with a devastating tackle which left him paralyzed from the neck down. She said that she and her fiancé had met on-line through social media. She told him, ‘When Chris and I began talking, I knew he was in a wheel chair, but 5 minutes into it that image faded away as it was clear that didn’t define him. The more time I spent in his presence, the more I knew that whatever life threw at me, I could make it through because we had each other. Together we are stronger.” I thought that was such a profound statement for this beautiful young woman to make.
Carrying that mantra into our everyday lives makes me excited for the future of our humanity. As a nation, together we are stronger! Henry Ford said “Coming together is a beginning. Keeping together is progress. Working together is success. If everyone is moving forward together, then success takes care of itself.” Just as an outstanding athlete cannot belong solely to himself, we, as a nation, need to keep reaching for others to stand with us in solidarity in order to effectuate change. And, to be victorious, we must be courageous in our reaching.
The lovely young bride’s story above has the most spectacular ending. Throughout the year of wedding planning, she and her fiancé worked tirelessly to demonstrate their mantra ‘Together we are stronger’. Minutes after being pronounced husband and wife, this amazing young woman reached down and helped lift her groom from his chair and stood before family and friends and shared their first kiss as husband and wife. Then delicately they turned, and both WALKED, small step by small step, back down the aisle clinging to each other as a married couple.
In unity there is strength.