I, like Whimsy, believe words can be powerful things. I believe that words can be lifesaving things to isolated people, or for people trying to reach out to isolated people, and that the blogosphere offers opportunities (although sometimes risky) for sharing our lives in ways that don't exist elsewhere. And that those opportunities matter.
In honor of those shared beliefs, I am in turn supposed to pass on this award to three of my fellow bloggers:
So, first of all, I would like to award Greta Perry who extends more energy I knew it was possible for one person to have, in many ways including active support of economic recovery in the New Orleans area in the ways she can; running the Louisiana Chapter of Soldiers' Angels (a national organization which matches volunteers with individual soldiers who the volunteers send weekly letters and monthly care packages to; sharing care with her family including her husband who is a veteran from Iraq; She is now recovering from a difficult surgical procedure, and authoring three passionately outspoken blogs, my favorite - in the spirit of a bright pink, shamelessly roaring lion award: Kiss My Gumbo.
The second person I am passing on the "A Roar For Powerful Words" award to is Dream Writer, author of the blog "Coming Out of the Dark," who writes about her courageous fight with extremely difficult symptoms of bipolar disorder, and complicated medical protocols to treat it. She, unlike I would be able, keeps her challenges private from her family and people in her life. She saves her strong words for us through her candid blog. She deserves support in her decision to go forward with her education despite a hard battle with severe depression.
The third I am hesitant about because he is dealing with so much that I don't know that acknowledgment of his courageous communication through this kind of award would mean much to him, or maybe his wife or the people supporting him. And I want people to know about him but don't know how much readership he would like. But I'm going to take the chance that he might understand the respect and caring I feel for him - stranger that I am - and would like to share. This award to him would not be about shameless words, but about lion-hearted courage. He is struggling with the most extreme symptoms of ALS and has difficulty even keeping his airway open, but writes a couple sentences every day on his blog to express the experiences of his daily life. His blog is Brainhell.
12 comments:
grats to you for the award, hon!
thx for dropping over... i have added your link to my page... so i can find you more easily ;)
i'll be a regular visitor from now on :D
i visit dream writer regularly but i haven't gone to see the other two yet but i will now! thank you for sharing these links with us.
it seems the man who has ALS wants more privacy than not. i feel reluctant to intrude.
My blog is fairly new (since December) and ever since I got nominated by Whimpsy, I have been figuring out who can I award to so today I will that decision.
Jim
I'll go give them a visit.
Merelyme,
Yeah, I don't know if that was a mistake or not. They had suggested they wanted things lighter over there, and he definitely goes to a lot of effort to share what it is that he is going through. I hope that it's OK. And I hope he understands the strong feeling and intent behind it, and the wanting to do something. It was probably wrong. I should have asked Greta first (Kiss My Gumbo) because she knows him.
Laughingwolf, welcome!
Jim,
Yeah, it's not so easy to figure out, because it's a little thing, but it meant a lot to me from Whimsy.
Whimsy,
Thanks! I hope Merelyme isn't right that the last one wasn't a mistake, I haven't gone over there yet to see if there was any response.
in reading his notes more closely i am coming to the conclusion that he does welcome strangers but that for people who do know him...he wants them to email him first. i still feel a little uneasy about commenting.
Congrats on the award. You deserve it.
Thank you so much. I uploaded the award and added my three. Thanks for your words about me within your blog :)
Merelyme - Yeah, I think you have better judgement about it than I do.
Susan, thank you.
Dream Writer, you deserve it. You're welcome.
i comment all the time on brainhell and i just randomly started reading it when i saw an article on sfgate.com a few years ago, since then i've read it daily. i don't have my own blog or read any others, but I wanted to see what this award was all about. i read some of your story, i hope you're doing well! holy crap what an amazing life you have led. I'm proud of you.
i work in a cubicle in downtown chicago at an engineering firm. i dread coming in because it's so boring. i need a new career.
Mark,
I'm glad to know it's alright for strangers to comment on brainhell, and that he is already well-known.
Yes - this award was a silly thing for it, but meant so much to me, and I wanted to pass on the feeing behind it. I hope they weren't offended, and that you are only checking the award out because of my one little comment.
Thank you for wishing me well. I don't know what kind of life I've had, because it's hard to compare to others - all contradictory. "Proud?"- Thank you! from the cowardly Lion.
Thank you for visiting, and come and go as you like if you come back. I'm sure it'll keep changing.
Good luck with your career.
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