Paraplegic Shames Us All

There’s a certain routine to stories about afflicted athletes -- a gee-we-should-be-inspired response to reading about how much harder other people have it.

It’s pervasive because it works: a guy missing an arm or lacking use of his legs who goes on to achieve more than most able-bodied people really does make you feel like a giant blob of shiftless blubber.

There’s Aron Ralston, who made me feel like a girl scout for putting off a wisdom tooth extraction after he sawed his own arm off with pocket knife when it got trapped underneath a boulder (now a major motion picture); there’s Keith Miner, a fighter I once profiled who had several pro bouts despite having most of his right arm chewed off by a wood chipper; and now there’s Eric Ingram, who recently obtained a blue belt in Gracie Jiu-Jitsu despite an inability to move his legs. Ingram successfully performed a videotaped belt test reviewed by the Gracie Academy in Torrance to receive the promotion.

Great story? Yeah, great story.