Presidential Citizens Medals awarded today to 13 American heroes

The Medal is awarded for "exemplary deeds or services for [one's] county or fellow citizens." Today 13 people got it, and one of them was Roger Kemp of Leawood, Kansas, a suburban community just outside of Kansas City, MO. I don't know Roger, but my home for many years was just a stone's throw from Leawood. And although we've never met, I've thought about Roger more times than I could ever tell you.

Roger was father to a beautiful young daughter, Allie. Allie's whole life lay just before her, until one horrible afternoon in June 2002. Then tragedy came calling, and Roger had to endure every man's worst nightmare. He was tested to the limit, and then some, but he survived. In the process he made the world a much better place, despite his enormous personal agony. "We don't always get to choose the challenges that we face," Barack Obama said at the White House today. "But how we respond is entirely up to us."

Read the Kansas City Star article: http://www.kansascity.com/2011/10/20/3219750/obama-awards-presidential-citizens.html. Then go to Allie's site: http://www.takedefense.org/.

A favorite saying of mine, quoted at the bottom of this Blog, is
"El hombre que se levanta es aun mas grande que el no ha caido --
The man who pulls himself up is even finer than one who has never fallen."

The words surely apply to Roger Kemp, and today he received his recognition.