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By Katrina Margolis
Hometown Weekly Reporter
For many people, just getting out of bed is the hardest part of the day, and going from hour to hour until you can get back in is a systematic sludge. When Randy Pierce lost most of his sight a year out of college, he believed that everything fun and exciting in his life was done. A few years later, when he had lost all of his sight, as well as the use of his legs, he was at his lowest point. Getting out of bed in the morning was about all he could do.
However, today, Pierce is the first blind hiker to summit all of New Hampshire’s 4,000-footers during a single winter season. He has run the Boston Marathon, climbed Mount Kilimanjaro, and continues to set new goals every single day.
Pierce spoke at Hale Reservation, his presentation titled, “Reaching Our Peak Potential: Achieve A Vision Beyond Your Sight.” It was easy to forget that Pierce is blind when he discussed all that he has accomplished, considering most fully able-bodied people have not accomplished all that he has in the way of hiking. His positive attitude and optimism filled the room, and it was easy to see how those two qualities were what allowed him to continue forward.
“A challenge is a wonderful thing,” Pierce said. “If you don’t have challenges, your life is stagnant.” The three things he wanted the audience to take away from his presentation were first, that you set goals because they are (as he called them) positive adversity. Second, that practice does not necessarily make perfect but it does make you better, and that’s what’s important. And third, that the aforementioned skills help build not only with set goals, but with expected challenges as well.
Pierce holds a tremendous amount of respect and admiration for his guide dogs, without which he would not have been able to accomplish what he has. His current dog, Autumn, lay at his feet the entire presentation, her loyalty quite obvious. His presentation was at its surface about how he was able to overcome his disability to continue to hike, and to hike incredibly well.
However, at its core, it was about perseverance at any level, and the strength of the human spirit.
