Lou Gehrig Research Paper

Everyone faces two major types of situations in life: those you prepare for and those that you are thrown into without any forewarning. A major part of my life was centered around a “tough break” to quote the words of Lou Gehrig. My father had been recently diagnosed with the terminal disease, Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, commonly known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease, a name that was coined by the fans of Lou Gehrig, a New York Yankees baseball player, after his death from the disease. Gehrig’s words of true courage rang out for me when I was younger without me realizing the immense weight they held. To say that he portrayed courage was not because he was unafraid of death by his disease, he was terrified, but because courage is when, despite the fear, you do your duty, accomplish your goal, or, in Gehrig’s case, remain strong in knowing you have “an awful lot to live …show more content…
I consider my father a courageous man as well who, regardless of his fear, overcame his disease. Although he did not cure his illness or miraculously improve his condition, he retained his tenacious warrior spirit throughout his 5-year battle. Consequently, the strength displayed to me from a young age has undoubtedly shaped my character to become more courageous. Due to courage not being something I typically used at the time when describing myself, as it did not seem to apply in day to day life, developing into a resilient person who could accomplish my goals, even with a mountain of fears, did not occur overnight. In an attempt to lift my spirits one day, my mother had presented Gehrig’s farewell speech to me. However, there are times when inspirational words cannot sink deep enough to take root and truly affect your life. His words did not give me hope at the time. Gehrig was simply an example of where my father would soon be: a recording, a ghost of a voice, spouting words of wisdom that had not prevented a tragic fate. The terror I felt for my father, mother, sisters, and myself