House Floods and Heroes

So, the thing is… sometimes a house flood can solidify your faith in Lance Armstrong.

Summer is almost over. I can’t believe it. I was just putting some finishing touches on my “Summer is Upon Us” column when I realized that Ana goes back to school next week! I can’t believe it. I was dreading the long summer days, afraid that we’d spend the whole summer fighting over how much television is appropriate. Yet, here we are, having barely sat down for a minute (unless you count the three weeks of the Tour de France when all television rules were suspended as long as it was cycling related.)

Part of the reason our summer was so busy was that we had a flood. (Well, we had a “water event” if you’re an insurance agent.) A toilet malfunctioned and covered the back of our house in two inches of water. It took more than a month to get things sorted out, which meant living out of two rooms downstairs and being up to our ears in paint and floor samples and excess… stuff. It’s just amazing how much STUFF we have. I found that I’m just not that good when I’m operating out of a greater level of chaos than is normal in our family. My brain feels noisy.

But it was hard to be depressed when watching Lance Armstrong power up the side of a mountain in this year’s Tour de France faster than we could even DRIVE it. Gosh, it was so exciting! And Armstrong answered the questions left by his small victory last year (by only 61 seconds) by delivering a sound trouncing to all who questioned. (His winning time would have been over nine minutes faster than the nearest rival if the rules had been exactly the same as last year. As it was, his official time was more than six minutes faster. He was just… unstoppable!) He goes down in history as the only man to ever win six Tours and he even won them consecutively.

Wouldn’t you know it, though, right before start of the Tour, a new book alleging that Armstrong is using performance enhancing drugs was published. And the press was all over that story, despite the fact that Lance has never failed a drug test and never been caught with banned substances. It really made me think about how hard it is to be a hero in our time.

And how badly we need those heroes.

It’s so interesting to me that we, as a society, feel the need to meet each act of greatness, whether athletic or otherwise, with suspicion and cynicism. I think maybe it stems from not wanting to be taken in by someone. I mean, what if we look up to someone and that person turns out to be a big FAKE? Yet it is human nature to seek a role model in this day where every taboo seems to be shattered and the cruelty of people to each others seems to have hit an all-time low. Lance Armstrong is such a terrific example of focus and determination. He beat cancer and came back from it to make history. He trains like a man possessed and he obsesses about the smallest details --he’s out there with a tape measure making sure that his bike is set to the exact millimeter he wants. He canvassed the entire Tour itinerary –riding the famed Alpe d’Huez some ungodly number of times in preparation. I’ll be the first to tell you that he is a difficult personality in some ways but you can’t deny what he’s achieved, nor the example he’s set for millions of cancer patients.

I guess I understand the skepticism, too, though, because we are so conditioned NOT to believe in the honesty in our fellow humans. During the recent water crisis at our house, we had to meet with a man who represents one of the Premier Providers of our insurance company. Greg, the Floor Guy, came out and measured the damaged area, told us how we’d go forward and said casually, “I’m not your typical salesman.” Naturally, I rolled my eyes and tried not to blow a big raspberry at him. I mean, our insurance isn’t in the business of actually GIVING us money, right? And this guy works on THEIR behalf.

A few days later, my husband and I met with Greg to choose the wood for the new floor and at some point, my spouse leaned over and whispered, “You’re doing the ‘scrunchy’ face.” Which is what we call the face Jane (3) makes when she’s Not Happy. He was right. I was still trying to figure out exactly how we’d get taken in this transaction. But we chose our floor (maple, beautiful) and Greg told us when to expect the workers to install the thing. Naturally, we thought we’d get some call about how our floor was so exclusive that it was going to take longer than originally planned, blah, blah, blah… I had visions of us at Christmas, still waiting for the floor to be installed.

It never happened. The guys were there when expected. They completed their work with dispatch and cheerful professionalism. There were some details I questioned —those were handled promptly. All in all, the whole experience was a really good lesson in how some people do honest work for a fair profit. I was impressed.

And pretty ashamed of myself, frankly. Because I tell my kids that we can’t view everyone we as a cheater. I’ve been talking about the need to start believing in people again instead of just assuming that the dregs of humanity are all we can expect. I’ve been saying (to anyone who will listen) that I CHOOSE to believe in Lance Armstrong. I believe in him because I think we need all the heroes we can get. I believe in him because there is no proof that he has taken anything but a lot of hard work –and he’s the most drug tested of all riders in the Tour. I believe in him because, given his medical history and the cancer that almost cost him his life, he’d be an idiot to take anything that might compromise his health. I believe in him because he has changed the sport of cycling in a profound way and because his focus and resolve, when coupled with a superior physical specimen, are enough to win the Tour de France six times. I admire him and I don’t want to assume that because there are a lot of cheaters in professional sports that everyone must be cheating.

GO Lance. Live Strong. And go Greg. Thanks for changing my perspective—not to mention my floors!

And just GO, summer. We’ll see you next year

I believe it is the nature of people to be heroes, given the chance.

--James A. Autry

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Barbara Cooper is the mother of Ana (6) and Jane (3.75). She lives in Austin, Texas and she hopes her family’s next “water event” involves the beach and swimming.