LIVELIE

In the 1970s there was a doll called Stretch Armstrong. You could pull and pull and pull on his arms, extending him halfway across your backyard and he wouldn’t break. Except sometimes he would, and the ugly ooze that made up his incredible physique would spill out all over your Captain Caveman t-shirt. Yeah, you see where I’m going with this.

We all make mistakes. Michael Barry certainly did, but he also owned up to his. That’s what big people (i.e. adults) do. But old Stretch over there, well he’s sticking to his big fat whopper, even though the ugly, undeniable truth has spilled out, ruining his cycling career and sullying the good work he’s done to bring awareness to and raise funds for cancer.

It’s unlikely any of us will ever experience a public humiliation like Lance Armstrong, but we can still learn from his mistakes. First, let’s all try to not make bad choices. Second, let’s all agree that if (when) we do, we’ll summon the courage and the integrity to own up to them and fix them.

Let’s all pledge to be a little more like Michael Barry, and a lot less like Lance Armstrong.

~Mel