by Jeff Thom
The day prior to the one on which this article was begun, I learned that my closest friend from college died of an unexpected heart attack prior to reaching
his 62nd birthday. I began writing this article immediately after returning home from a memorial service for an amazing 21-year-old cancer victim, Austin
Young. Our families met when Andi my youngest, and Austin were around six months of age at UCSF Medical Center, after we learned that both had been diagnosed
with retinoblastoma. Austin, a person with low vision, was a straight A student and an excellent swimmer. He was an even better person. He was deprived
of the chance to attend college due to the severe recurrence of his cancer near the end of his high school years. However, it never stopped him from forming
his own charity, Gaming For A Cause, where video gamers raised money for children with cancer.
As many readers of this magazine can personally attest, I could very easily write an article about Austin. But this article is not written as a memorial
to Austin or about memories of people I came to respect and admire. It is written to underscore something we hear often enough, but don't always take to
heart, the fleeting nature of our time on earth and what that should mean to all of us.
Our waking hours are often consumed by our every-day struggles, work, domestic concerns, efforts to make ends meet, and all the daily crises that pop up
in our lives. We live with the uncertainty of our time on this planet, but it often takes events such as a friend dying at the age of 61 or a talented
young man's having his life abruptly ended by cancer, to bring that uncertainty to the forefront.
As president of CCB, I feel the fleeting nature of our time on earth has a special meaning. The primary purpose of this organization is to improve the
lives of our fellow persons with visual impairments. There is so much to do, and we never know how much time we will be granted to perform our work on
behalf of CCB. Does this mean that CCB should somehow take over our lives at the expense of health, family and other important things? Quite obviously
not. Does it mean that we need to remember the importance of our work and make sure that we are doing what we can to further the goals of CCB? Yes it does.
One of the most pervasive elements that takes us away from accomplishing more in CCB is our own negativity, egos, feelings that we know more and are better
than others, feelings that we aren't being treated like we deserve, and on and on. I am sad to say, I'm just as guilty as anyone. As a personal example,
(and I could cite more), several years ago I remember when someone was publicly recognized for doing something that I actually felt I had even a larger
role in accomplishing. Instead of feeling glad that we had accomplished something, I failed to check my own ego at the door and felt slighted.
We need to concentrate on the job at hand, to focus on the positives that each one of us brings to the organization, and emphasize the fact that, each
of us in our own way is here to help those persons who are blind or have low vision that need that help now or in the future.
Austin Young's battle with cancer never let him lose his focus on helping others. Similarly, let's rededicate ourselves to the purpose of CCB and to the
CCB family.
