Always Looking Up

Always Looking Up: The Adventures of an Incurable Optimist by Michael J. Fox

279 Pages

Started: 29 July 2010
Finished: 5 August 2010

In the prologue he admits that the name of the book is in part a joke about how short he is and how he’s spent his life looking up at other people. But truly the book is about optimism, that quality people have that lets them look up from wherever they are and see the good and the light in what is going on.

Michael J. Fox was diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease in 1991. This book was finished at the end of 2008, almost 20 years later. In that time his life was changed more than he thought possible. And through it all he’s stood firm, or as firm as he can (and there are plenty of jokes about his stability in the book) on four pillars that provide him with hope and optimism – his work, politics, faith, and his family.

The book is divided into those four sections. And rather than tell a chronological story about his life in the decade since his first book, he rather reviews stories, events, and people, in each of those areas who helped him maintain his optimism. His work has taken him from in front of the camera to his foundation for research. He entered the political world to work for federal support on stem cell research. He explores his faith and what its foundation is. And it is clear throughout that his family is truly a source of great strength for him.

With everything his disease has brought him he could’ve easily given up and given in. Instead he took all it brought him and gained strength from it. It is fighting against our weaknesses, never giving up, and always looking up, that we can find our strength, our hope, and our faith.

In my own life I can see how my work, teaching and studying, is a pillar for me. I have the convictions I stand for (although not nearly in the political realm the way he does). And I know I’d be nowhere if it weren’t for my faith and my family. We can each use the pillars in our lives to find our own optimism and our own way to look up.

Rating: 10

Alphabet of Books – O