Most of us remember Roy Campanella. Certainly, many people in New York do! He was a catcher with the old Brooklyn Dodgers, and he is now in the Hall of Fame. One of the first African Americans to play major league baseball, Roy was on the same team as Jackie Robinson and was as beloved and valuable. In the midst of his career, Roy was in an automobile accident that left him a quadriplegic. Most of his rehabilitation work was done at the famous Rusk Institute for Rehabilitative Medicine in New York. Often, as he wheeled through the corridors of the Rusk Institute, Roy reported, he would stop by a plaque that was mounted on the wall. It contains the words of a poem called “A Creed for Those Who Have Suffered,” written by an unknown Confederate soldier: I asked God for strength, that I might achieve. I was made weak, that I might learn to humbly obey . . . I asked for health, that I might do great things. I was given infirmity, that I might do better things . . . I asked for riches, that I might be happy. I was given poverty, that I might be wise . . . I asked for power, that I might have the praise of men. I was given weakness, that I might feel the need of God . . . I asked for all things, that I might enjoy life. I was given life, that I might enjoy all things . . . I got nothing I asked for—but everything I had hoped for. Almost despite myself, my unspoken prayers were answered. I am, among men, most richly blessed! Who, among us, is not so richly blessed—with adversity, yet an abundant life of peace and happiness?
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