Years ago a
hardworking man took his family
from New York State to Australia to take advantage of a work
opportunity
there. Part of this man's family was a handsome
young son who had aspirations of joining the circus as a trapeze artist
or an actor.
This young fellow, biding
his time until a circus
job or even one as a stagehand came along, worked at the local
shipyards that bordered on the worse section of town.
Walking home from work one evening this young man was attacked
by five thugs who wanted to rob him. Instead of just
giving up his money the young fellow resisted.
However they bested him easily and proceeded to beat him to a
pulp. They mashed his face with their boots,
and kicked and beat his body brutally with clubs, leaving him for dead.
When the police happened
to find him lying
in the road they assumed he was dead and called for the Morgue
Wagon. On the way to the morgue a policeman heard him
gasp for air, and they immediately took him to the emergency unit at
the hospital. When he was placed on a gurney a
nurse remarked to her horror, that this young man no longer had a
face.
Each eye socket was smashed, his skull,
legs, and arms fractured, his nose literally hanging from his face, all
is teeth were gone, and his jaw was almost completely torn from his
skull. Although his life was spared he spent over
year in the hospital.
When he finally left the
hospital his body may have healed but his face was disgusting
to look at. He was no longer the handsome youth that
everyone admired. When the young man
started to look for work again he was turned down by everyone just
because of the way he looked. One potential
employer suggested to him that he join the freak show at the circus as
The Man Who Had No Face. And he did this for a
while. He was still rejected by
everyone and no one wanted to be seen in his company. He
had thoughts of suicide.
This went on for five years.
One day he passed a
church and sought some
solace there. Entering the church he
encountered a priest who had seen him sobbing while kneeling in a
pew. The priest took pity on him and took him to
the rectory where they talked at length.
The priest was impressed with him to such a degree that he said
that he would do everything possible for him that could be done to
restore his
dignity and life, if the young man would promise to be the best person
he could
be, and trust in God's mercy to free him from his torturous life.
The young man went to
church constantly, and
after thanking God for saving his life, asked God to only give him
peace of mind and the grace to be the best man he could ever be in His
eyes. The priest, through his personal contacts
was able to secure the services of the best plastic surgeon in
Australia. There would be no cost to the young
man, as the doctor was the priest's best friend.
The doctor, too, was so
impressed by the young
man, whose outlook now on life, even though he had experienced the
worse,
was filled with good humor and love. The surgery
was a miraculous success. All the best
dental work was also done for him. The
young man became everything he promised God he would be.
He was also blessed with a wonderful,
beautiful wife, and many children, and success in an industry which
would have been the furthest thing from his mind as a career if not for
the goodness of
God and the love of the people who cared for him.
This he acknowledges publicly.
His life was the
inspiration for his production of the movie "The Man Without A
Face." He
is to be admired by all of us as a God fearing man, a political
conservative, and an example to all as a true
man of courage.
The young man ... Mel
Gibson.
