no excuses lives of inspirationOn October 5, 1973, a 4-year-old boy named Josh answered his family’s front door in Park Slope, Brooklyn. Ringing the door bell was Basilo Bousa, a 24-year-old mentally disturbed neighbor who hurled sulfuric acid into Josh’s young face. Josh lost his eyesight and suffered horrific, life-threatening burns to most of his face. Numerous facial features were gone and what remained was scarred beyond recognition. Few of us will suffer such calamity, such horrific misfortunate particularly at such a tender age. Many paths lay before Josh, many choices. If anyone ever had a reason for bitterness, for anger, for resentment, for a sense life owed him it would be Josh.

Josh was fortunate to have a strong and loving family. Perhaps that is what made the difference. Whatever it was, Josh has lived an exemplary life, including a degree in physics and a Ph.D. from the University of California at Berkeley. Josh has worked on software for the Mars Observer for NASA and is the president of the board of directors of the San Francisco Lighthouse for the Blind. He is an associate scientist at the Smith-Kettlewell Eye Research Institute, a nonprofit research center. Married, Josh has two children who are 7 and 10, and plays bass in a band.

(This post is drawn from the a March 3, 2013 New York Times article, “The Crime of His Childhood,” by Wendell Jamieson.)

Closing quotes:

“Stumbling blocks or stepping stones, obstacles are what you choose to make of them.”  — W. Clement Stone; 1902–2002

“Life turns out best for those who make the best of how things turn out.”  —Proverb

“It’s not that I don’t want to be written about; I’d like to be as famous as the next person would, but I want to be famous for the right reasons, for the work I’ve done, and not for some stupid thing that happened to me 40 years ago.”  — Dr. Joshua Miele