With Christmas only 8 days away, it's the season where much of the world celebrates a fat guy in weird clothing (and coincidentally, the birth of Jesus). It seems unusual to me, that our appearance driven society hasn't yet caused the image of Santa to be remade into a buff guy who drinks Pabst Blue Ribbon and uses too much hair gel (a la the guys on Jersey Shore).
Thankfully, our society still finds it acceptable and even comforting to celebrate a hefty guy in a strange outfit giving gifts, at least one day a year.
With that in mind I would like to celebrate another fat guy in weird clothes giving gifts; The Fat Cyclist. Here's a guy who turned his wifes battle with cancer into a crusade to help rid the world of this horrifying disease. Through a blog, his readers, and a link to a Lance Armstrong Foundation fundraising page, "Fatty" (as he's affectionately known) raised nearly a million dollars this year to fight cancer. His wife passed away in early August, but instead of focusing on the loss, he's only fought harder.
I'll let you read the story for yourself, but just this week, Fatty and friends raised over $100k to be shared between LAF & World Bicycle Relief, mostly through small personal donations. To me, that's almost as magical as flying reindeer. As a reward for his efforts, he "got" to ride up a mountain. As you will undoubtedly read on this blog from time to time, hills are evil, and Fat Guys should not be forced to ride them. (The fact that Fatty got to ride said mountain with Lance Armstrong and Team Radio Shack is neither here nor there).
To show that I too am in on the act of Fat men who make a difference: I shopped for the White Elephant gift exchange my wife and I are participating in tonight so she could study for the finals she took this afternoon. Yes, that's right. While Santa brings presents to about 1/2 the world, and Fatty brings hope to cancer patients the world over, I have spent 20 minutes at CVS across the street from work buying slinkys, massage pillows, and fleece throws.
What can I say, I'm a giver.
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