DO NOT READ IF YOU'RE SUPERMAN!

By Peter Vuono

   Last week, I visited my old friend, Paul Dallalis  in the hospital. Paul is a giant of both kindness and strength at 6'5" and nearly 300lbs. Paul was a champion  from the beginning winning the teenage national Olympic lifting championships in Willamantic CT in 1979. While still training, Paul channeled his mind and body to  his fellow man as a respiratory therapist in at least two well known Boston hospitals.
   Paul and I spent a lot of time together doing the things we loved; lifting weights, going to powerlfiting contests and working security at our secret passion, pro wrestling. Paul was always  a gentleman- never flaunting his gift and always upbeat in times of difficulty.
   Paul is fighting leukemia. In addition to this, he has spent months withstanding painful skin grafts to his leg from injuries he sustained from major lacerations in a household accident.All in the matter of a few years, I saw my beloved friend who was the picture of strength fall from Olympus.I used to have a poster in my classroom that read"Strength on the outside comes only after strength on the inside." I soon realized that the unknown author must have met Paul.
   Every time I visited him or talked to him on the phone, Paul was always jocular, supportive of my needs and upbeat.He always said that life is an interesting journey when mere mortals like me would have thought of his plight as a living hell. Yet every time I leave his room, I feel inspired and strengthened through Paul's attitude and I realized that Paul had never fallen from Olympus at all; he ascended even higher.
   One of my favorite movies is the anti-bullying movie Angus(1995). In the picture George C. Scott speaks to actor Charlie Talbert who plays Scott's grandson. Every time I watch the scene I think about the amazing inner strength of my friend.
   In the film, grandpa tries to comfort his grandson who is being bullied. He says,"Superman isn't brave. You don't understand. He's smart, handsome and even descent. But he's indestructible; and you can't be brave if you're indestructible. It's people like you and your mother; people who are different and can be crushed and know it. Yet , they keep on going out there every time".
   Paul continues to go out there every time- not just healing but inspiring and motivating. The kind of superman that I have been so proud and fortunate to know. The kind that others who are suffering need to hear about  A man for whom there IS NO Kryptonite.