Interesting

[BroChuck]

Here is a true story by Paul Harvey. Pass it to anyone who you think would

find it interesting and inspiring. You will be surprised who this young man turns out to be.

(Do not look at the bottom until you have read it fully, Please)

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 ship yards which 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 a year in the hospital. When he finally left, 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 on account 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 saw 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 Catholic he could be, and trust

in God's mercy to free him from his torturous life. The young man went to

Mass and communion every day, 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 worst, 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, 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.

The young man! Mel Gibson.

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.

Friends: With all the attention the movie "The Passion of The Christ" is getting now and thus attention to Mel Gibson, I thought some might be interested in the above story from Paul Harvey. It provides insight as to what God has done in Mel's life and why he feels so compelled to produce this film.

[serotta]

Just so you know, that story is not exactly true. I got this:

Be that as it may, he did not require a year in the hospital to recover, nor was he left permanently disfigured, nor did he join a circus freak show and spend five years wandering and horribly depressed. On the contrary, he healed quickly, shot Mad Max that same year and went on

[Adstar]

Well i wonder how long it will take before he is canonized and declared a saint?

All praise The Ancient Of Days

[softballgirl]

I got that the onther day in an e-mail and wondered if it was true or not... even though it may not all be true it's still a pretty incredible story