The Beauty of Growth

[erosvamp]

A year and a half after the fatal accident I was involved in, I witnessed this man's accident as I was walking down the street. I remember people giving the children CPR, the mother in bad shape, in and out of consciousness, barely able to watch as strangers attempt to revive her children and frank sitting there in shock and disbelief. Since then, I have often thought about Frank and hoped he had weathered the emotional clusterfuck of the situation. Even after my accident, I could only imagine the mental state this man was experiencing. To read this brings me great joy and happiness.



DENVER - Frank Bingham calls it a triumphant day. He walked across the stage at the University of Denver's Magness Arena and got his law degree on Saturday.

It was a significant moment for him and his classmates.

"My hope is to inspire people to realize that we as humans are incredibly strong. When adversity comes we look deep inside and we have what it takes to face it head on and come out on top," he said.

In November 2006, Bingham and his wife Becca had taken their young children to downtown Denver for a family evening together. They were walking across a crosswalk when a drunk driver sped through a red light and hit them.

Four-year-old Macie and 2-year-old Garrison were killed instantly. Becca died later that night at the hospital.

Frank Bingham survived with a broken shoulder. There were many days after the accident he said he did not know how he would get out of bed.

He held onto a quote he often used when he taught middle school and high school students, and later taught other educators. It is from the novel "The Once and Future King." It reads: "The best thing for being sad is to learn something."

Bingham was in his first semester of law school when the tragedy happened. He decided to continue.

His classmates stood beside him and were a tremendous source of support.

"Someone suggested the idea everybody would wear these red strings around their wrists for whatever they thought of them as either prayer strings or reminder strings. They continued to wear them until they would dissolve. For months after the accident I still could see those red bracelets on my classmates," he said.

Bingham describes it as his quirky obsession to learn and says it is what propelled him to many places around the world the last three-and-a-half years. He wanted to learn Spanish.

"I have taken the opportunity to go to countries where I could do immersion programs. I've also been able to learn kite surfing and meet new people around the world," he said.

One of those people is a woman from Switzerland named Nina.

"I met her while attending a drop in tango dancing lesson in Spain," he said. "I am very happy to announce six weeks ago Nina and I became engaged."

Bingham says many people have told him they would not be able to go through what he has. He disagrees.

"Deep within each one of us is incredible reissuance, tenacity and strength that we may not realize until we come face to face with tough times that we never imagined we could survive," he said at DU's graduation ceremony on Saturday. "Hopefully none of you will ever face anything like what I have dealt with, but you will encounter inevitable obstacles. But I bring proof that hope, faith, forgiveness and love can survive even the worst that life can throw at us. As it says in Pslams, tears may endure for the night but joy comes in the morning."

If you would like to contribute to the Frank Bingham Scholarship Fund in his family's honor, you may do so online at www.giving.du.edu. You can also mail a check to: The Frank Bingham Scholarship Fund, Office of Gift Processing, Dept. 585. Denver, CO 80291.


http://www.9news.com/news/article.aspx? ... &catid=339

So remember...

You never know when people will be taken from you, so live each moment fully with those you love.

It can always be worse.

Learn something from the low points.

You are far stronger than you think.

Life will go on.

[Sisyphus]

I think that's great. Tough story, but people are much more resilient than they think they are. Everyone may think, "I couldn't survive something like that," but they do. We all have horrible things coming to us but it's on a sliding scale.