Phil Goddard's Cross Country Walk
Man treks across the USA honoring wife and raising money for cancer research
Aug 30, 2006
Phil Goddard is walking across the United States to raise money for cancer research in honor of his wife Jayne. Jayne died of colon cancer in January of this year and Phil decided that walking cross country would make something positive out of her death. Though Phil is a British citizen he decided to walk across the United States. Some people take a personal tragedy such as the death of a loved one and remain stuck in the grief and anguish. Others grieve for a time, then use the unhappy event to launch a new and positive segment of life. Phil Goddard is one of the latter.
Jayne was a positive, outgoing person, which encouraged Phil to take positive, outgoing steps in her behalf. "If I'm being honest, it's for me first and foremost. I miss Jayne very much, and I need time to reflect on our eighteen happy years together and decide what to do next with my life." Dubbed the Journey for Jayne, Goddard's trek is giving him the time and space to review his life with Jayne and come to grips with her loss.
The loss of a loved one has to rank among the very difficult experiences of life. What is it that allows some people to move forward with positive action after personal tragedy? Author Laura Day, in her recent book Welcome to Your Crisis, says "Remember crisis is an opportunity for dramatic, positive change. Things are supposed to fall apart, to bring you to a better place. Those who don't see life that way remain stuck in endings."
Is personal tragedy a karmic solution that pushes some of us away from a routine life and toward the journey of our destiny? Or is it that some people who are more naturally optimistic and feel more in control of their lives ultimately make a positive statement out of a tragedy?
Regardless of the reasons, some people do take charge of their lives and make something positive out of a heartbreaking loss; an extreme case of making lemonade when life brings you lemons.
Goddard's journey is a clear example of someone writing a new chapter of life; sending his main character, himself, on an odyssey symbolizing a new stage of his life--a solitary journey across a strange land. His physical destination may be Los Angeles, but his life destination will make itself known to him in its own time as he processes life after Jayne.
