[CliffFletcher]

I guess I take a more prosaic view of what is good in life.

I see someone shovelling a public walkway adjacent to their home and I think that’s a good thing he’s doing.

I hear a group of people laughing together on a patio and I think it’s good that they’re enjoying themselves.

I pause on my bike to watch a sunset at Glenmore Park and think it’s good to appreciate this.

But suffering and achievement (which seem to be essential to what people mean by inspiring) don’t enter into it. Suffering can be arbitrary and cruel, but its not ennobling. People achieve for all sorts of reasons - ambition, fun, inner drive, innate ability.

My brother is mentally disabled. He has a wall full of medals from Special Olympics. I love him. But he doesn’t inspire me. He’s a person as complex as any other.