Monday, September 12, 2005

Terry Fox: hero, inspiration, tearjerker?

Okay, so last night I should have been watching this Terry movie. The guy is a Canadian icon, a hero for Cancer research. But I couldn't do it. I watched the Simpson's instead, and then remembered that the movie Terry was on. For the 1/2 hour that I watched it, I was moved to tears. Actually, I could only make it through about 20mins because it was showing the last bit of his run, the part where he had it the toughest. The final bit of his run into Thunder Bay was probably the most emotional part of the movie for me. I had to turn the channel because I was likely to lose it over 20mins of a movie. Maybe if I had remembered to watch from the beginning I wouldn't have felt the same, or maybe it would have been worse I don't know. For some reason the Terry Fox story has become more poignant as I get older.
In high school it was just a schoolwide gym requirement to do a mini Terry Fox Run. Then every year after that you start to understand a bit more about just how hard it was for him. Now, 25 years after the fact, this movie comes along and moves me to tears. I regret not participating in this year's Terry Fox Run. I'll do it next year though. That's a promise.

Terry Fox died June 28, 1981. (A month and a half after I was born.) I wish growing up I had known more about him and everything he did. Luckily for me and every other Canadian, things were documented and dramatized so completely and so well that we'll never forget.

1 comment:

Carly said...

i have the book compiled by Douglas Coupland and it's quite moving.