INTRODUCTION

When I was thirteen years of age I lost both my legs in an accident, one below and the other above the knee. And now for more than thirty years I have fought my handicap, but I shall not reach the treasure in the the tiny goblet at the end of the rainbow, until I give to other disabled men the lessons of my fight. I believe I have a mission. It burns me up.

Somewhere in the mountains … and I know that mountains can be very friendly , I can see a colony for men without limbs, men who suffer, men who get tired of bobbling through life. But they can can be made into normal men. They can go hiking and they can go swimming. They can forget that they are cripples. They can beat down their handicaps. They can go back into the hard world and master that world. They can be taught how to laugh. They can be masters of their fate.

I lost my legs, but I have dived from a seventy five foot high pier. I have gone on horseback on long journeys and slept under the stars. In a light canoe I have ridden Rhodesian rapids. In the loneliness of the African veld I have lived alone. Perhaps I was trying to escape from the world because I was a little afraid of it .. because I had no legs. But I met people who were the salt of the earth. I found God in them and in the miracle of hills and running water. I learned to laugh at myself. I learned to love a horse and a donkey.  ….