Friday, May 24, 2013

Inspiring stories - on Oklahoma tornado survivors, astronaut Chris Hadfield & Ricochet the surf dog

There's a few stories I've seen recently on very different topics, but that all fall under the umbrella of being inspiring words and/or video.

The article was by Berry Tramel for The Oklahoman newspaper with the story behind an iconic photo taken in the aftermath of the deadly tornado that hit Moore, OK earlier this week.

"Oklahoma tornadoes: The 'Big Dog,' the little boy and the hug that triumphs over tragedy" was great reporting and writing from Tramel about friends Jim Routon and Hezekiah Darbon.








The first video to note here featured Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield with him in space singing "Space Oddity" by David Bowie.


The second video was a ESPN segment with Tom Rinaldi telling the story of a comfort dog named Ricochet that surfs with children in need of support.


It's a terribly heartwarming story that brings to mind for me two pieces of writing by Chris Jones I've previously posted on, the Esquire blog post "Autistics" on he and his son and an ESPN column "Watershed Moment" on surfer Garrett McNamara and volunteer work he's done with autistic kids and the ocean.