October 15th
I had the opportunity Sunday night to listen to Eric McElvenny give a motivational speech to the student athletes of W&J. While serving as an infantry officer in the United States Marine Corp in Afghanistan, Eric was wounded during combat action by an IED which led to the amputation of his lower right leg. As I was sitting there listening to what he had to say I couldn't help but think of the similarities and differences between Eric and Ron Kovic. In Born on the Fourth of July, Kovic uses his frustration about losing three quarters of his body in Vietnam to speak out about the horrors of the war. His goal was to open civilians' eyes about how poorly the government treats its wounded soldiers and the atrocities of the Vietnam war to try and create change. On the other hand, Eric is using his injury as his own motivation to accomplish challenging goals like completing Iron Man Triathlons. His goal is to inspire young athletes to never give up and to always follow your dreams no matter what your circumstance is. It was interesting to see a different perspective of how a battle wound can effect a veteran from Kovic's story. I was also happy to make connections from class to the real world.
Eric McElvenny is an great example of a true inspiration. I liked the idea that his main discussion revolved around the phrase of ‘never giving up’. From what I absorbed from his speech, he was wanting to show from his real life experience that anything is possible. That you can not give up when the worst is presented to you in life whether it is an injury, death, or anything. He is persistent on what he is trying to prove that you have to fail first in life to then succeed. Unlike Kovic, he swayed away from that ‘anti-war’ protester and made better for himself. He made the best out of an unfortunate situation and stayed positive throughout which made it all possible. That is what I admire because not everyone knows what goes on behind those doors in McElvenny’s life, all they know is what he talks about. The amount of persistence, confidence, work-ethic, positivity, strength, and faith needed is unbelievable. Opposite of McElvenny, Kovic as we know is basically trying to turn the civilians and society against the Vietnam war and Government. He is aiming to show how he wasn’t treated right, disrespected, and not properly cared for when needed. His goal is to show how the Vietnam war and Government did those things and persuade others to join against them. It was also interesting though to think about the similarities between these two other then the fact they were both injured severely in combat. Both were athletes growing up and both did the same things throughout their childhood as many other children have too. Though these two both share similarities and differences, they both are major inspirations and heroes in the world that we live in today.
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