Editorial Reviews
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You'd have to have a heart of stone not to be moved by the opening story of Representative John Kasich's Courage Is Contagious, in which he discusses his friendship with Bobby and Eric Krenzke, two preadolescent boys whose lives were cut short by the rare neurological order dystonia, but who always faced their fates with dignity and calm. "Seeing Bobby was never a matter of sympathy or doing him a favor," writes the Republican representative from Ohio. "It was one of friendship. If any favors were done, in fact, he did them for me. In Washington, I inhabit a world of compromise; back home, Bobby reminded me what real courage is." Kasich also writes about the Krenzke brothers in order to spotlight the efforts of the Special Wish Foundation, and in the other 16 profiles in this book he focuses on other people who are making a difference in the lives of fellow human beings because they sincerely believe it's the right thing to do. From Amber Coffman, a teenage girl who organized a program to provide the homeless with sandwiches, to Albert Lexie, a shoeshine man who has worked his trade at the Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh two days a week for nearly 20 years and donated almost $40,000 in the tips he's made there), the accounts in Courage Is Contagious are a uniformly inspiring work of human-interest journalism.
Review
This book is about some of my heroes--
These heroes don't hold public office.  In most cases, they're not well known outside the communities where they live and work.
They are people who bring life and hope to the aged, the homeless, the helpless, the sick and dying.  They do God's work on this earth--
At heart, this book is a celebration, not only of the people I write about, but of millions of others who are doing good work.  But we must not just sit back and applaud these heroes.  We need to join them--
If we want a better America we have to roll up our sleeves and make it happen.  This book is about people who are doing that, setting a standard, showing us the way.  I hope you enjoy meeting them.  More importantly, I hope they move you to action.  We can all be heroes if we only have the courage to try.
--John Kasich
Courage Is Contagious
Courage Is Contagious,John Kasich,Doubleday,0385491476,American,Case studies,Helping behavior,Private Welfare Work,Social Science,Sociology,United States,Voluntarism,Volunteer Work,Current Events / American
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