Accident Turned Reeve into a Super Man
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Ten years ago, Christopher Reeve was best known as Superman, but Reeve and everyone else knew that he was merely a good actor portraying a character — that Reeve was a normal man, not a hero.

All that changed, of course, when Reeve broke his neck in May 1995 after being thrown from a horse. He was paralyzed from the neck down, and had to fight off feelings of depression and thoughts of suicide.

The accident left him as anything but a normal man. But it also helped him become a hero.

Certainly Reeve used his celebrity to fight for the rights of disabled people and push for more research into spinal cord injuries, but he also used his heart and his mind and his passion. He died recently, never getting the chance to walk again, but his legacy will live on for generations.

No matter what the adversity, talented people draw strength from it. Michael J. Fox and Magic Johnson both have been hit by serious diseases at a young age, but they’re using their considerable influence to rally support and fight for research rather than sitting around and feeling sorry for themselves. Their stardom might be fading, but their legacies are growing.

With any luck, you’ll never face the sort of adversity that Reeve, Fox and Johnson have, but you will have things go wrong, in your career and in your life. You can overcome them with dignity and effort, not with self-pity or excuses.

Take whatever you have left, no matter how little it may seem, and use it for inspiration. That horseback riding accident in 1995 took away Reeve’s ability to move his arms and his legs. But it gave him the ability to move a nation.