Friday, July 12, 2019

Now, I want you to focus on Alan.

Ooof. Hard to fight back the tears. From Now that Ross Perot is gone, I can tell this story by Rick Perry. We are burdened day-to-day by small-minded, small-spirited malignant souls with loud voices. It is hard to always see and appreciate all the unseen goodness that occurs quietly and unremarked.

There is much more of the spirit of Ross Perot and Gary Sinise in America than the opposite. And while Sinise and Perot are recognized names, the greatest volume of these efforts are by ordinary Americans in quotidian, and also unremarked fashion. Meals on wheels, volunteer librarians, volunteer firemen, orderlies in hospitals, the tall teenage who reaches down something from the top shelf for a little old lady, uncountable ordinary angels who make this such a wonderful country.

From Perry.
During my time as governor of this great state, I had the honor and privilege of knowing countless warriors who stepped forward to serve in Iraq and Afghanistan and returned home with horrific wounds of war. U.S. Army Cpl. Alan Babin Jr. is one such hero.

While serving in Iraq in 2003 as a medic in the 82nd Airborne, Alan was shot in the abdomen while tending to a fallen comrade. While Alan survived his injury, he faced a long and difficult road to recovery, complicated by the onset of meningitis and a stroke-induced coma that left him confined to a wheelchair for the rest of his life.

On the one-year anniversary of his wounding, I joined Alan and his family for a small gathering. He was still in very bad shape, neurologically and physically incapacitated. When I asked his mother, Rosie, what I could do to help, she said she was eager to get him out of the hospital and back home, but struggling with the prospect of transporting Alan to his many medical visits.

I knew there was one person to call: Ross Perot. What happened next still amazes me to this day. The next morning, Ross personally called Rosie and made arrangements for his plane to pick up the Babins in Austin and fly them to Dallas where Alan could be seen by leading neurologists at Zale Lipshy University Hospital.

When the hospital elevators opened, Ross was standing there to meet Alan personally and ensure that he got the best of care. Later that day, Rosie was handed a key to a hotel room across the street so she could be close to Alan throughout his extended stay.

It didn't stop there.

When Rosie returned to the family home in Round Rock for her daughter's prom, Ross visited privately with Alan to sit with him and make sure he wasn't alone.

After three weeks in Dallas, Alan and Rosie returned home to Austin on Ross' plane. When they arrived home, a fully customized luxury conversion van equipped with a wheelchair lift was waiting for them in their driveway.

Later when they spoke, Ross told Rosie two things: "One phone call is all you ever need to make if you need anything. Now, I want you to focus on Alan." And that is exactly what happened.
Click through, there is yet more to inspire you.

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