nardell

As a kid, I admired Michael J. Fox for his role as a likable, honest and funny star of “Family Ties.” I didn’t realize it then, but I was witnessing one of America’s last true role models as it entered a more modern era of surprisingly low standards among celebrity lessons geared toward the youth. As a teenager, I admired Michael J. Fox for his role as an adventurous, humorous, modest, skateboarding, guitar-playing, girl-getting famous actor in his “Back to the Future” trilogy of movies. I didn’t realize it then, but it was impossible to be as cool in real life as he acted in the movies. Now, as an adult, I find my admiration for Michael J. Fox stronger than ever - but my reasons why have dramatically changed. I now realize that Fox’s current role as a gutsy, courageous and determined champion of hope for millions of people stricken with neurological degenerative diseases far exceeds any of the many Emmy- and Oscar-worthy acting performances upon which he laid claim to his fame. Fox’s book is broken up into four topics vital to his purpose: work, politics, faith and work. In the work section, he reflects about the adjustments he had to make to continue acting despite the immense difficulties introduced by Parkinson’s. He shares how, on a family vacation to France, Lance Armstrong’s family first saved his life and then helped show him how to build a fundraising foundation - which eventually became the Michael J. Fox Foundation. In addressing the initial advisors of the MFJ Foundation, Fox himself told them, “I need you to help me go out of business,” referring to the group’s overriding goal of finding a Parkinson’s cure faster than it took for America to land a man on the moon upon JFK’s visionary call to action. In the politics section, he shares his incredible journey to legalize stem cell research vital to the cause of finding a cure (“For Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, Huntington’s, ALS, multiple sclerosis, and juvenile diabetes sufferers, the ink on that veto represents life blood”). Fox used inspiration from former Superman actor Christopher Reeve – himself paralyzed in a horse-riding accident that eventually cost him his life – with the following challenge: “Either you decide to stay in the shallow end of the pool, or you go out in the ocean.” (Fox joked that Reeve didn’t warn him about the sharks scouring the deep end!) Fox shared just how low notoriously-controversial radio politician Rush Limbaugh could go to hinder Fox’s fight for a cure. Fox talked about one of many of President Bush’s embarrassing legacies in blocking stem cell research and the frustration that followed. In the faith section, Fox discusses his take on religious beliefs and describes his inner strengths that get him through every day. He talked about some unlikely friendships, including that with a former Bishop, which helped solidify Fox’s beliefs in his beliefs. I really enjoyed Fox's open-minded and true-to-life perspective of faith. In the family section, Fox shared a number of humorous, heartbreaking and hopeful stories about his own family. I personally loved his account of the day he taught his son, Sam, to ride a bike on a baseball field. He talked about a soulful family road trip. He detailed the highs and lows and pitfalls of parenting and the lessons that he’s learned if he could do it all over again. He even addressed the idea of regret: “Had the sweeping changes I had instituted – sobriety, a reordering of priorities – come too late? Was there enough of me left to be the man I had never, until now, known that I could be?” This isn’t just a book. It’s a way of living. Reading “Always Looking Up” won’t just inform you about the ravages of Parkinson’s disease or Fox’s challenges in battling them as he continues fighting for a cure. It won’t just make you laugh one page or cry the next. It won’t just make you mad at ignorant, closed-minded politicians and proud of persistent open-minded heroes. It will make you want to live a more meaningful life. Fox sees the world through a symbolic pair of glasses Zig Ziglar would be proud of and any human could benefit from donning for a day. My sincere hope is that the Michael J. Fox Foundation, which has raised more than $200 million toward research for a cure – more than any other private foundation - will soon go out of business, thereby toppling Parkinson’s disease forever. I doubt I’ll be invited, but I want Fox to make good on his dream of dancing at each of his children’s weddings.

2020-08-17 07:32