Today while out running a few errands we were within striking distance of the site where the actual “Ice” scene took place. My son Chad and Simon Daley recently recreated the moment on film, so I took my wife and son to see where it really happened. The Pilgrimage to Enlightenment movie begins with a recreation of the event which occurred in the 1970’s.
Today there is a housing development on the land, but in years past this was a considerable wooded area with a beautiful little lake sitting in the middle of it. You can see in the images how far the water level has dropped in the years since then. Four decades ago the water was much higher and deeper when a little 8 year old boy wandered alone out onto the ice covered lake and fell through.
Being trapped under a sheet of ice on the muddy bottom of this lake was a paradoxical moment. Simultaneously life was slipping away and I was fighting to hold onto it. I had already tried to break through, but punching and kicking didn’t work. My heart was racing, and my lungs were screaming for air. I started to think escaping was futile, but I didn’t want to believe it. The water put its grip on me as it seeped in and saturated my clothes weighing me down like a cement bag. My arms were swinging but I got further and further from the ice until I simply couldn’t reach it, then I gave up hope and sank to the bottom.
There alone wrapped in the cold waters I learned one of my most valuable life lessons that day. Even on my last breath and with one minute left to live, it didn’t have to end this way. I could rewrite the ending. If only I could calm down, think, and fight for my life to the very end, I could find a way to live.
It’s not over until it’s over.
Never give up.
This is a sentiment shared by virtually the entire team of 500 advocates who have been a part of the "10 Mountains 10 Years" project. Yes they have been impacted by Alzheimer's and Parkinson's Disease, and no there is no cure, but life is far too important to ever give up on. So we all fight tooth and nail to do everything we possibly can to make these cures a reality. We can be the force behind saving ourselves.
This is the spirit of the up coming "Pilgrimage to Enlightenment" movie.
World up,
Enzo
