Inspiring TV specials honor real heroes

FOX. Has he become a beneficiary of the new solution that his unstinting fundraising efforts have helped effect?

The best TV program we (inadvertently) caught last week was a delayed telecast of the “Breakthrough” Awards funded by the likes of Mark Zuckerberg and Rupert Murdoch, to honor the world’s most creative inventors, innovators and scientists. Some viewers may have regarded the awards show as a bore, but we found it inspiring and even thrilling, because it showcased the world-changing achievements of some of today’s real heroes.

The most moving part of the program was its focus on the men and women who, after years of unstinting and selfless research, have managed to find a way to help people suffering from Parkinson’s disease to control and subdue their involuntary nervous spasms.

Conventional treatments are limited to medication and surgery, but this new protocol offers a third, more effective option that uses laser impulses to motor centers of the brain to send a “message” that suppresses those dreaded tremors, and eventually teaches patients—to walk!

The best part of this particular portion was when the award was presented by a former patient—who confidently walked on his own to thank the heroic scientists who had succeeded in turning his young life around!

Tears were shed onstage and by viewers at home, and the message of “proven” hope that the award sent out, loud and clear, made us pray that other complex and “incurable” medical conditions will similarly be decisively mitigated—very soon!

(Parenthetically, we reminded ourselves that a lot of funds for research into a cure for Parkinson’s have been raised by Michael J. Fox—and we wondered if he, too, has become a beneficiary of the new solution that his unstinting fundraising efforts have helped effect?

Racist extermination

Another TV special that impacted strongly on viewers last week was a long interview with the now 105-year-old Sir Nicholas Winton, who around the time of World War II was able to save hundreds of Jewish children from most probable racist extermination. Yes, the protagonist of Steven Spielberg’s “Schindler’s List” was able to save more Jews, but Sir Winton’s heroic acts in the face of exceedingly grave perils are similarly deserving of honor and recall, even if they took place many decades ago.

The fact that Winton is a “centenarian plus five” makes his life work all the more unique. Even better, he may now be a really old man, but his mind and heart remain strong and clear. —Would that some of us could be as productive as he has been for the long term!

Thanks to the TV people whose recent programs have given us the rare opportunity to bask in the courage, wisdom and selfless goodness of some truly admirable human beings!