We learned earlier today that Michael Chertoff is our das Homeland Gutless Wonder.
Now we are inspired by Peng Shulin — as our Wonder With Guts with new robotic legs — as he proves to us what it really means to inspire people and a nation and all while filling the world with hope and belonging:


8 Comments

  3. Very shocking.
    That Ugly laws article was another great one that didn’t get much comments. Hard to know what people will respond to or not I suppose.

  5. Hi David,
    When I first saw this post, I was struck by Pen’s smile in the second picture. Having the freedom to move around is something that most of us take forgranted.

  6. You’re right about that, Chris! His joy is extreme. He can now, probably for the first time in his life, move around as he pleases without any outside intervention.
    It was a sad thing, though, that his beautiful story was initially propagated through a “Weird News of the Day” sort of site.

  7. When my oldest son saw the picture — he was looking over my shoulder as I was looking at the post — he said, “That’s weird!” He didn’t think that the photos were real when he first saw them.
    Isn’t it great that we can receive inspiration from “Weird News.”

  8. Chris —
    That’s in interesting reaction from your son and totally expected and positive.
    I guess what bothers me about the “Weird” label in the media is that it unnecessarily objectifies Peng in what, to me anyway, is not a kind way. I’m taken back to our “Normal vs. Average” discussion:
    http://urbansemiotic.com/2007/05/31/normal-discrimination-and-average-power/
    It would be nice if the mainstream media picked up this story and celebrated him instead of leaving it to the second tier news sites that focus on the strange and “Weird” rather than the extraordinary.

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