When the broken hearted people of the world agree, there will be an answer let it be. (The Beatles)
When the entire world pays attention there will be a miracle. In short form, my brother Donnie hopes that the miracle will be that his personal hero, Terry Fox, will come back to life to set the same example of sheer determination that went into every step that he ran. From this miracle and this mentor, the world could turn to the same goals as many have: feeding the poor; clothing the naked and curing cancers of the soul and body.
On any anniversary of Terry's magnificent run, how could anyone disagree with this?
I agree 100% with my brother, but my miracle might be different. I want the same thing as Donnie except I did the "math" differently.
There is more than one way to come up with the same solution, but much time is taken up by others talking about how they arrived at the same destination.
Metaphorically speaking, often, by the time they have explained their various routes, the train has left the station. They missed going to the next stop together.
Donnie and I and others like us took the road less traveled by, making all the difference in our lives and as a result those of the lives around us, yet we arrived at the same destination with the same solution.
This solution is to look out for one another as humans. We worked really hard but unfortunately took that "work" home.
I personally have described my miracle as the whole world getting together and in the words of Jesus "Feed the Poor" and Gandhi "teach India to spin". Donnie agrees with me on this. This has to be a first step; do what you can.
Donnie and his wife Barb, and son Alexander bought me a car in 2007 and my brother stayed six weeks with me so I would get my license, get off the couch, take a shower and generally start paying attention to the world around me. And most importantly, he quoted Winston Churchill "Never ever ever ever ever give up."
Sometimes, at cost to his own health, he with his love and intensity, told me to get up off the mat and start fighting harder than I have ever fought."Everyone likes a comeback," he said.
He turned my marathon of despair into a marathon of hope and for that I am forever grateful. Ross Pierce a law school friend of mine, gave me a hell of a compliment after the Globe and Mail article came out when he said the world could use more Peters.
The same could and should be said about my brother. He's a giant compared to me.
I told my story in public first to my brother Donnie at a self help meeting and things evolved from there and landed in the Globe.
Someone at the meeting heard it and asked me to speak somewhere else and now because of that you may be reading this. Funny how things happen? Carl Jung talked of synchronicity. For me, all I can say is:
He ain't heavy, he's my brother (the Hollies).
