Cord Byrd: “I read a remarkable article this week in the Hill newspaper concerning the distinguished Senator from Georgia, Mr.…”

“I read a remarkable article this week in the Hill newspaper concerning the distinguished Senator from Georgia, Mr. Cleland. The article recounted events that occurred 31 years ago in Vietnam when then-Captain Cleland was gravely injured in a grenade explosion. The injuries that he received in that horrible accident cost him his right arm and both of his legs, and very nearly cost him his life. He was 25 years old at the time, and just 1 month shy--just 1 month shy--of completing his tour of duty in Vietnam. Now, think of that. Just a month to go. For more than three decades, Max Cleland lived with the crushing belief that his own carelessness had caused the accident, that the hand grenade that shattered his body and shattered his life had somehow fallen from his own web belt when he jumped from the helicopter. Most people in Max Cleland's situation would have been consumed with self-pity, even if they had had the grit to live. Think of that. The young Captain Cleland certainly battled it. But as he has handled so many of the challenges that have marked his life since that terrible day in Vietnam, Max Cleland triumphed over the lure of self-pity. He triumphed over his injuries. He triumphed over self-doubt. He triumphed over bitterness. Max Cleland could have given up after that accident in Vietnam. Most of us would have. But he did not. He turned his misfortune into the service of others.”