Mitchell's Choice

 An excerpt from Rainbow Remedies for Life's Stormy Times
by Joanne K. Hill

Several years ago, while riding his motorcycle, W Mitchell was hit by a laundry truck and severely burned. He was a former marine, twenty-eight years old and had everything a young man could want: a satisfying job on the San Francisco trolley line, a new Honda 750 motorcycle and a successful solo flight piloting a small airplane. Mitchell was handsome. Women loved him.

In one day his dream life became a nightmare. The accident left his face badly scarred, his fingers burned to stubs and his dreams for the future shattered. But, over time, instead of bitterly regretting the accident, Mitchell chose to use the recuperation time as an “R & R” for his spirit. He decided not to just survive, but to thrive.

As his burns healed, Mitchell planned a new life. In spite of facial scars so severe that children ran in fright while others called him “monster,” Mitchell did not hide. His Marine Corps training taught him to face problems and deal with them.

After his recuperation from the accident, Mitchell became a successful businessman in Colorado. Eventually he went back to flying and purchased his own plane. One cold day, while taking off in his airplane, Mitchell experienced another tragedy. The plane stalled and crashed. Mitchell’s four passengers got out with only scratches, but he was paralyzed from his waist down.

Mitchell still refused to let discouragement get to him. He reviewed his past for what he could still do. “Before the plane accident, I could do ten thousand things. Now I can only do nine thousand,” says Mitchell today. Included in those nine thousand was eventually serving as mayor of Crested Butte, Colorado.

Mitchell refused to sit back and feel sorry for himself. He put himself on the front lines, spending $160,000 of his own money to help make this world a better, cleaner, safer place in which to live. Through that choice, Mitchell’s destiny came into view — to help others make positive choices.

“That destiny is a matter of choice is not something I learned early in life,” he says. Today, as an inspirational speaker, Mitchell is in demand worldwide.

Visit Mayor Mitchell's Web site.

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Copyright © 2002 Joanne K. Hill