by Kristie Smith-Armand/Dallas Morning News
“Anything worth doing is worth doing poorly until we can learn to do it as close to perfect as possible.” – Blake Lindsay
It’s a bird, it’s a plane, no, it’s Blake Lindsay!
Blake Lindsay is at it again. The author, motivational speaker, disc jockey, communications director for the Dallas’ Lighthouse for the Blind and podcast voice for Zig Ziglar can now add skydiver to his resume for doing amazing and brave endeavors, and did I mention that he has done all of this and more with no vision? Being blind has never stopped Blake from pursing his many passions. In high school he even rode a motorcycle solo but now says that he is less of a daredevil and rides with others.
However, while he says he is less of a daredevil, the fearless Blake Lindsey jumped from an airplane in Grayson County with the assistance of the Rotary Club and his amazing instructor. Dive instructor, Ernie Long and Blake fell 2 ½ miles from the sky. Blake and Ernie free-fell for more than one minute before they opened their red parachute and floated down to the ground.
“I loved every minute of it,” Blake said with passion. Ernie who has also jumped with quadriplegics and paraplegics commented that Blake was an exceptional student with a positive attitude. Mr. Long added that Blake was as good as any sighted student that he’s worked with.
After the jump Blake commented, “I want people- when they face their challenges, their fears-to dive in.”
When I asked Blake why he decided to skydive at age 45, he told me that the idea came to him while he was speaking at a camp for honor roll high school seniors in Midlothian, Texas when a student asked him what he would like to do in life that he had yet accomplished. Blake stated that ‘skydiving’ immediately came to his mind. Two weeks later he got a call from the Rotary Club to make his dream come true. Blazing Blake Lindsay and his instructor Ernie Long helped to end the fear of skydiving two weeks ago.
Since there is no stopping this amazing man from living life to the fullest, I asked Blake advice for parents who have children with a disability. He says that the first step for the parents is to embrace the obstacle. Mr. Lindsay continues to say parents must encourage and focus on the abilities and talents of the child and less on their disabilities and weaknesses.
He elaborated by saying around ages five and six parents should teach their child to be positive about situations in life. When parents teach their children that a smile and a good attitude create more opportunities than a frown or sour mood, the child in spite of any disability, will have people gravitate to them. Mr. Lindsay teaches that friends and positive experiences happen to anyone who has an open and cheery disposition.
My friend, Blake Lindsay, is the real deal and practices what he preaches. When I finally met him in person at the Lighthouse for the Blind’s Open House last summer, he made certain that I had my own private tour and invited my students who are blind to tour this incredible facility.
I read a poem the other day by an unknown poet who was falling hopelessly in love. She thanked her mate for being the parachute that shielded her from a hard landing. I thought about Blake Lindsay’s amazing book, Out of Sight Living, when I read the poem and could not help but compare Blake’s story to being the parachute that will help many embrace the challenges and look for the positives in every day.
While some of us waste time complaining about life’s misfortunes, Blake Lindsay takes the words of Tom Petty to heart and is Free fallin’, now he’s free fallin’, now he’s free fallin’.
Blake Lindsey is not only an author, a full-time employee for The Lighthouse for the Blind in Dallas as a communications specialist, but is also a weekly host, for Zig Ziglar’s weekly Inspire Podcast, at www.ziglar.com/podcast and a dear friend of Mr. Ziglar, one of the most popular and sought after motivational speakers in our country. Zig Ziglar wrote, “You may have heard Blake Lindsay’s voice on Zig Ziglar’s Inspire podcast – now you need to hear Blake Lindsay’s powerful message of hope! Blake has been a radio announcer, Ziglar employee, and published author. He has accomplished more in his life than many people twice his age – and all without the gift of sight.
On the side, he performs radio and TV commercials for a variety of companies nationwide, and TV shows such as Dream by Faith with Sherry Bronson on the ION Television nationwide network . Blake also does voice narration projects for PowerPoint presentations and more as well as owning his own company, Blazin’ Blake Productions. His resume is long and covers such accomplishments as twenty-two years as a Disc Jockey; seven years with KISS-FM in Dallas, and a year, with KLUV also here in the Dallas/Fort Worth area. He has also worked in San Antonio and Austin radio markets.
When he was asked what advice he could give to children who have a visual impairment, Blake says simply, “Children should be as grateful as ever, for fairly new opportunities that didn’t exist thirty short years ago. Today’s assistive technology is making a huge improvement in our lives, and independence. We have an extra opportunity also, to inspire others, with our every day simple success. Looking well groomed and dressed for the day. Wearing a big smile on our faces, showing people we aren’t allowing loss of sight to bother us in the least. Young people with no sight impairment should follow the same guidelines, and keep that big smile on, to show we love life to the fullest. Not every day will seem like a perfect day, but out of seven days a week, I usually have five or six very good ones,” and quickly adds, ” I like those numbers.”
