“…I lost my leg as a kid. You know, when you’re in high school, you think you’re immortal. You do crazy things. I was racing my air cycle around Horsetooth Reservoir and was doing great. If you’ve never done it, it’s like flying; you feel free; like gravity no longer has a hold on you. Problem is your flying twenty-four inches off the ground. Going 60…70…80 miles an hour that close to mother earth feels a lot different than going that fast one hundred feet, or even twenty feet, up. And, when your air jet sucks in a rabbit, well, it’s toast, but so are you.

“Anyway, the doctors told me my leg was crushed and couldn’t be repaired. I know that was a lie! …But I don’t blame them. The government says my leg wasn’t worth the cost of repairing it. What could the hospital do? We didn’t have the money to pay the cost. So, I live with this prosthetic extension attached to my knee. But, as you can see, most people can’t even tell it’s not real when I’m in uniform.

“But, you know, I’m not one to just let life happen to me. Too many people do that. Like, you can look around at folks pretty much anywhere. Most of them are happy to be taken care of. They just settle into the routine that our government officials expect. Let Big Brother take care of you; you deserve it. Now don’t get me wrong. I love our country; look where I am today. Yeah, how many people could be here talking with you like this. It’s just that too many people don’t feel that real power for change is inside each one of us. I know I didn’t…at first.

“But my great-grandfather used to talk to me about it. He remembered a time when the people had the power for change instead of our national leaders. Individuals had the right to succeed or fail on their own. The government just provided the framework in which they lived. He told me, Boy, never forget you can determine your future yourself. Don’t ever expect any regime to have your interests in mind when making decisions. No matter how much power government takes from us, every individual can make decisions that can change his future. You can become whatever you want to be. Yeah, that’s what I remember most about him. He believed I could be whatever I wanted to be.”

Interviewer: “So, Mr. Myers, why did you choose to become a janitor?”