One of the great aspects of our meeting was that on that Sunday my parents were on their way from Australia for their first visit since I‘d moved to the United States a year before. A couple days later my mum and dad met with Daniel and his parents. You can believe that they had a lot to talk about.
Chris and Patty may have considered me a blessing for Daniel， but my parents were an even bigger blessing to them. Who better to prepare them and guide them through the parenting of a child without arms and legs？ We could give them not just hope but solid evidence that Daniel could live a fairly normal life， and that he too would discover the blessings he was meant to share. We have been blessed to share our experiences with them， to encourage them and to offer proof that there are no limits to a life without limbs.
At the same time Daniel is a dynamo who is a blessing to me， giving me far more than I could ever give him because of his energy and joy， and that is another， totally unexpected reward.
A LIFE TO SHARE
The late Helen Keller lost her sight and hearing before the age of two due to illness， but she went on to become a world-renowned author， speaker， and social activist. This great woman said true happiness comes through “fidelity to a worthy purpose.”
What does that mean？ For me， it means being faithful to your gifts， growing them， sharing them， and taking joy in them. It means moving beyond the pursuit of self-satisfaction to the more mature search for meaning and fulfillment.
The greatest rewards come when you give of yourself. It’s about bettering the lives of others， being part of something bigger than yourself， and making a positive difference. You don‘t have to be Mother Teresa to do that. You can even be a “disabled” guy and make an impact. Just ask the young lady who sent this e-mail to our Life Without Limbs Web site.
Dear Nick，
Wow， I don’t even know where to begin. I guess I will start off by introducing myself. I am 16 years old. I am writing to you because I watched your DVD “No Arms， No Legs， No Worries，” and it made the biggest impact on my life and my recovery. I say recovery because I am recovering from an eating disorder， anorexia. I have been in and out of inpatient treatment centers for the past year now， and it has been the worst chapter of my life so far. I was recently discharged from a residential treatment center located in California. While I was there， I saw your DVD. I have never felt so inspired and motivated in my entire life. You truly amaze me. Everything about you is so wonderful and so positive. Every single word that came out of your mouth made some sort of an impact on me. I have never been so incredibly grateful in my life. I mean there have been times in my life when I thought I had reached the end， but now I see that everyone does have a purpose in life， and that they should respect themselves for who they are. Wow， seriously—I can‘t even thank you enough for all the encouragement your DVD gave me. I wish that one day I can meet you； it’s something I dream to do before I die. You have the best personality a human being could have—you made me laugh so much （which is very hard to do when in rehab）. Because of you I am now a lot stronger and more aware of who I am and I no longer obsess about what other people think of me， or put myself down all the time. You taught me how to turn my negatives into positives. Thank you for saving my life and turning it around. I can‘t thank you enough—you are my hero！
USE ME UP
I am grateful to receive many letters like that， and it seems especially odd given how despondent I was as a child about ever enjoying my own life， much less helping others with theirs. Your search for meaning may still be under way. But I don’t think you can really feel fulfilled without serving others. Each of us hopes to put our talents and knowledge to use for benefits beyond paying the bills.
