Is Terry Fox a Good Hero?

[YukonJack]

"As for Fonyo, most could see through him from the start. His motive was to get a job."

So, the world has reached the stage where wanting a job is something dishonourable.

 

[lone wolf]

If that's the way you want to interpret it.....

 

[#juan]

"As for Fonyo, most could see through him from the start. His motive was to get a job."

So, the world has reached the stage where wanting a job is something dishonourable.

Steve Fonyo ran across the country but he never caught the imagination of the people like Terry Fox did. Terry Fox never planned the annual
Terry Fox Runs that have been held everywhere over the last thirty years. When Fox announced that he had to stop because of his health(the cancer had come back) it broke people's hearts. Terry Fox was a national, and international hero in Canada from that day forward. There was no way Steve Fonyo or anyone else could compete against that.

 

[YukonJack]

#juan, I concede your point about Terry Fox. I even concede that Steve Fonyo misbehaved, but only AFTER you and others like you gave him the middle digit in your blind Terry Fox hero worship, in spite of his feat.

What I find objectionable and totally unjust is that Fonyo's accomplishment is brushed aside and he is portrayed as someone to be ashamed of.

 

[JLM]

#juan, I concede your point about Terry Fox. I even concede that Steve Fonyo misbehaved, but only AFTER you and others like you gave him the middle digit in your blind Terry Fox hero worship, in spite of his feat.

What I find objectionable and totally unjust is that Fonyo's accomplishment is brushed aside and he is portrayed as someone to be ashamed of.

I can't agree - a beach was named after him. I'd be the first person to accept Steve Fonyo- once he's acknowledged the errors of his ways and starts acting like a respectable citizen, and I believe he will, but he has to SHOW us.

 

[Kreskin]

"As for Fonyo, most could see through him from the start. His motive was to get a job."

So, the world has reached the stage where wanting a job is something dishonourable.

I would've respected him more if his Journey For Lives was branded as finishing what Terry started. He would've won the hearts and minds of Canadians if he had started in Thunder Bay. I remember watching Fonyo and never once heard him even mention Fox's name.

I don't think Fox intended to be a hero. Heroism is coined in reflection of events and nominees usually get that title when their actions weren't for self gratification. Fonyo looked very much like someone in need of self gratification and promotion.

 

[#juan]

#juan, I concede your point about Terry Fox. I even concede that Steve Fonyo misbehaved, but only AFTER you and others like you gave him the middle digit in your blind Terry Fox hero worship, in spite of his feat.

What I find objectionable and totally unjust is that Fonyo's accomplishment is brushed aside and he is portrayed as someone to be ashamed of.

That is just not true Jack. Steve Fonyo's undoing happened over several years. He was well cheered during his run but he later amassed a number of fraud, assault, and other charges, including at least five charges of impaired driving. He got more second chances than anyone I've ever heard of.
.

 

[damngrumpy]

Fox was there to serve a cause that was much bigger than
his actual run. I think Terry wanted to raise awareness more
than raise millions. The money was fine, but the awareness
was the most important to him. He ended up being a hero
for the reason that awareness was much greater than even
he imagined, and the money around the world, had increased
the awareness. Fox is not only a national hero he is a real
world hero. The world states that each year with a series of
Terry Fox Runs.

 

[YukonJack]

#juan, if someone declared that you are nothing but an attention-seeking, drunken fraud, since Julia Child and Emeril produced many cookbooks before you came on this forum as a culinary connoisseur, you would probably feel the same way as Steve Fonyo felt.

And FAR, FAR less justifiably so.

 

[damngrumpy]

The sad thing is Fonyo could have been a hero. He took
on the challenge of finishing Fox's run. However his over
all behaviour destroyed public confidence in him.
It is sad really that Fonyo destroyed his own public image,
had he done the right thing both would share the spotlight
of being great campaigners in the fight against cancer.
What is the saying, if you crap in your own nest, be prepared
to put up with the smell.

 

[YukonJack]

damngrumpy, if you'd seen that your COMPLETED quest is marginalized, minimized and and even degraded in a frenzy of hero-worship, how would you feel?

Would it drive you to drink?

All the Fox worshippers would answer to that "yes", if they took a minute to be honest, but of course hero-worship and honesty are mutually exclusive.

 

[gerryh]

damngrumpy, if you'd seen that your COMPLETED quest is marginalized, minimized and and even degraded in a frenzy of hero-worship, how would you feel?

Would it drive you to drink?

All the Fox worshippers would answer to that "yes", if they took a minute to be honest, but of course hero-worship and honesty are mutually exclusive.

So it's everybody elses fault that Fonyo is an alcoholic.

 

[Kreskin]

damngrumpy, if you'd seen that your COMPLETED quest is marginalized, minimized and and even degraded in a frenzy of hero-worship, how would you feel?

Would it drive you to drink?

All the Fox worshippers would answer to that "yes", if they took a minute to be honest, but of course hero-worship and honesty are mutually exclusive.

There was enough hero-worship within Fonyo himself to make up for those of us who couldn't stand him.

 

[YukonJack]

"So it's everybody elses fault that Fonyo is an alcoholic."

No, but a LITTLE appreciation for completing TWICE what the pseudo-hero did not, would have been nice.

I hated to say that, because Fox, obviously died before he could, but that is no excuse to denigrate, revile and exoriate the one who did.

And I still aqm looking for answers from the Fox worshippers as to how they would have reacted if they had been wearing Steve Fonyo's (one) shoe. Crossing Canada TWICE and being denigrated for it.

 

[lone wolf]

How much did you have invested?

 

[Kreskin]

"So it's everybody elses fault that Fonyo is an alcoholic."

No, but a LITTLE appreciation for completing TWICE what the pseudo-hero did not, would have been nice.

I hated to say that, because Fox, obviously died before he could, but that is no excuse to denigrate, revile and exoriate the one who did.

And I still aqm looking for answers from the Fox worshippers as to how they would have reacted if they had been wearing Steve Fonyo's (one) shoe. Crossing Canada TWICE and being denigrated for it.

He chose to be egotistical and even verbally denigrate Fox's efforts as often as possible in an effort to make himself look better. I would've reacted by not doing that.

 

[YukonJack]

Not a penny, lone wolf!

Expressing opinion for monetary gain is strictly the exclusive talent of liberals.

 

[lone wolf]

Then why do you sound like you were cheated for something?

 

[YukonJack]

Kreskin, do you honestly believe that if Fox had completed the journey that he failed to complete, he would have acted modestly, with humility and dignity?

I have some ocean front property for you in Arizona.

 

[Kreskin]

Kreskin, do you honestly believe that if Fox had completed the journey that he failed to complete, he would have acted modestly, with humility and dignity?

I have some ocean front property for you in Arizona.

I'm talking about during Fonyo's run. The only time he mentioned Fox was to complain that fox had an easier time. Fonyo was a first-class a-hole from the start.

Reprint of original article a month or two into his run. You can feel the bs in the air -

“The Second One-Legged Runner” by Sherri Barron | The Walrus | May 2010

Since leaving St. John’s March 31, [18-year-old Steve Fonyo] has consistently fallen short of his running schedule. Last week, [he] was just outside of Moncton, NB, and had gone 1,400 kilometres. That’s 850 km behind the progress Terry Fox had made on the same day four years ago.

“I know I’m far behind and it worries me,” Fonyo said in a recent interview. “But if I don’t make it home until January, people are just going to have to understand.”

Predicting his chances of meeting his own goal is like betting on a vibrant, young racehorse that’s barely broken in and highly unpredictable.

One can only look at the odds, and compare Fonyo to the passionate young man who inspired this mammoth undertaking with his tremendous 5,385-km trek after losing a leg to cancer.

Fox, of Port Coquitlam, BC, stunned the world with his stubborn, almost brutal will.

He was forced to abandon the run just outside Thunder Bay, after cancer spread to his lungs. He died the following June.

Now, despite the mixed feelings of some Canadians who believe Fox’s run should never be repeated, Fonyo is tackling the journey.
...

“I hate to say it, but I did rotten the first two months. It’s almost embarrassing.”

Lately, he’s run about 35 km a day, says Suzanne Krupa, his 31-year-old sister who drives the 26-ft. motor home that shadows Fonyo.
...


Fonyo partially blames his crowds of supporters for his slow pace.

“I really don’t know what to do. They want me to stop for everything, a photograph, an autograph. Sometimes they just want to talk or give me money. I don’t want to refuse them, so what do I do? How do I tell them they’re hurting my run? ”

Terry Fox didn’t have this problem, Fonyo said.

“]People feel guilty because they ignored Terry Fox for so long, and they’re trying to make it up by being good to Stevie,” said his father, Steve, in a telephone interview from Vernon, BC.

Fonyo also had the misfortune of beginning his run amid the worst snowstorm to hit Newfoundland this winter, Fonyo’s father added.

And the runner has had problems with his artificial leg.

“I lost quite a bit of weight, and the cup that fits over my stump became too big,” he said. “But now that’s been fixed. And I ran 27 miles the first day I tried it out.”
...

While Fox was a dreamer, a pusher, and it took him months to win the support of the nation, Fonyo boasts of his pragmatism. While planning his run more than a year ago, he cut Fox’s 8,548-km route down to his size — 7,190 km.

“Terry’s run was too long. I don’t think I could do that,” says Fonyo.

While Fox skipped medical checkups, Fonyo has stuck to his religiously. His last checkup in Halifax several weeks ago found no traces of cancer.

Yet, Fox was in far better physical shape than Fonyo, who was overweight when he set out.

Many observers say Fonyo has a far better chance of finishing the run than Fox. Not only has Fonyo had more support from the public and the press, and a more shock-absorbent artificial leg, he’s considered cured of the cancer that attacked both men.

Fonyo has had to contend, nonetheless, with personality clashes among a group of people sharing the inevitable strains of such a journey, as Fox did before him.

While Fox’s best friend and brother stuck with him throughout the run despite constant tiffs, Fonyo’s medical attendant abandoned the trip in frustration about two weeks ago.

Romeo Gadbois, of Salmon Arm, BC, had said Fonyo invented problems like sores and blisters.

Fonyo denies the charge: “He’s just annoyed because I asked him to leave.”

Fonyo’s sister, Suzanne, is talking of returning to the family home in Vernon next month. Fonyo’s father may take her place.

However, one of Fonyo’s greatest advantages is the mere fact that Fox made the run before him.
...

And Fonyo, a proud and wilful man, is adamant he can complete the run.

“I wouldn’t have started it if I didn’t think I could finish it.”
...

As...Suzanne said before the second one-legged runner’s test began: “Only Stevie knows the true depth of his commitment.”