[Blindtlk] Fw: [Nfbf-l] Erik Weihenmeyer on Expedition Impossible

[Gloria Whipple]

Good point Dave!


Gloria Whipple
Corresponding Secretary
Inland Empire chapter
nfb of WA


-----Original Message-----
From: blindtlk-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:blindtlk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
Behalf Of David Evans
Sent: Wednesday, August 31, 2011 09:52
To: gwunder at earthlink.net; Blind Talk Mailing List
Subject: Re: [Blindtlk] Fw: [Nfbf-l] Erik Weihenmeyer on
ExpeditionImpossible


Dear fellow NFB members,

Let us not judge Eric so harshly on this.
We are all at different points in our own lives and with dealing with 
Blindness.
Eric is just doing what interest him right now and His focus is not on the 
same things as maybe we are focused on.
When we help someone, do we ask "are you a very dedicated NFB member and 
supporter before we throw them a safety line and help them?"  Do we do this 
with everyone we help to see if they think the way we do, act the way we do,

believe the way we do before we offer our help?
Is it not just enough that they need help and they will accept our help 
without running a background check on us, our beliefs, politics, religion, 
bank account and race?
If Eric is busy doing the things that are important and interest him in his 
life right now, why should we judge him?
Have we all not been in a position in our lives where we did not wish to get

too involved in some matter or cause that someone has approached about?  A 
good example would be the last time the Jehovah's Witnesses knocked on my 
door with the Mezuzah on the door post.
Please believe me when I say that I respect other people's religions, but I 
am not exactly going out to attend their meetings, causes or points of view.
It is just the way life is and the way things are.

I say that if Eric wants to come and speak, again,  we welcome him and give 
him our undivided attention.  If he wants to come and be amongst us, talk to

and with us and take part in our convention and activities, he is welcome. 
If he is too busy with the other activities he loves and has to do, we 
should support him and wish him well.
We have gotten from him about as much as he has gotten from us.  An NFB flag

rests on the top of the highest mountain in the World that he placed there 
as the first Blind man to climb it, with our sponsorship and support.
We risked our money and he risked his life.  We got some positive, and 
negative publicity just as he did and Eric came and spoke to our Convention 
in Atlanta that year.
The deal for him to speak to us again, maybe  in the works and maybe not. 
If it is, it maybe more in the form of a business deal as he makes his 
living now as a motivational speaker surrounding his adventures in extreme 
sports.
This attitude of, "you are either with us or against us" needs to stop.  It 
just drives otherwise good people away.

David Evans, NFBF and GD Jack.
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Gary Wunder" <GWunder at earthlink.net>
To: "'Blind Talk Mailing List'" <blindtlk at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Tuesday, August 30, 2011 4:26 PM
Subject: Re: [Blindtlk] Fw: [Nfbf-l] Erik Weihenmeyer on 
ExpeditionImpossible


> No con, just a wish that he had come to see himself as one of us, taken 
> not
> only to climbing mountains but to talking with people like you and me 
> about
> how to build a chapter, run our adventure camps, speak to students at our
> centers, etc. He climbed the mountain we agreed to help him climb. My
> sadness is that he did not sign-on to do the smaller things that made our
> support possible.
>
>
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