Inspiration and Hope Shines On
Written by Sharon Cecil
Henry Holden, a LIGHTFEST Re-Ignited Ambassador, has left us to become a star shining brilliantly for the universe. He was an INCREDIBLE talent.
LIGHTFEST originated in 1997. It was inspired by the 1996 Olympic Torch Relay and the theme song from the Olympics, “The Power of the Dream.”
Henry Holden was an incredible person, role model and so much more. He agreed to be an Ambassador to the re-igniting of LIGHTFEST in 2014. LIGHTFEST Re-Ignited goals remain the same as the original LIGHTFEST, Inspiring Hopes and Dreams. Henry was diagnosed with polio in 1952 at the age of 4 years old during the polio epidemic. He did not allow this to deter him from being exuberant about life. He played sports, became an actor, stand-up comic, motivational speaker, writer, playwright and advocate for those with disabilities and a two-time LA Marathon participant.
I have said that Henry was my hero Henry. He had a way of inspiring and motivating people. In talking with a close friend of Henry’s, she shared how Henry hated to be called “an inspiration”. She says, “I get it, he was often told that he was an inspiration when he was also being told that he didn’t get the part. ‘I’m sorry, Henry, we’ve gone in another direction. But you are an inspiration to me.’ Oh my, would he get upset. I used to pretend to be a woman in a drunken brawl using the word inspiration as a curse word. ‘I’m an inspiration? An INSPIRATION?!?! YOU’RE an inspiration! You wanna see inspiring? Go look in the damn mirror! Why don’t you go home and INSPIRE YOURSELF!’ He would laugh until he couldn’t breathe. Nonetheless, he was and still is, an inspiration.”
Henry was a perfect role model on how to overcome adversity. He supported and encouraged my abilities. He allowed the young people I worked with to interview him in order to strengthen their skills while sharing his strength and talents.
In a review of the “The Hitman and other short plays” by Henry Holden, it states that, “Unlike books about the disabled that prey on your sympathy, The Hitman and other short plays show the disabled living within a mix of regular people, and facing the same conflicts and feeling the same emotions as everyone else. It’s one big melting pot of human beings from every walk of life. There are the young and the old; there’s new-found love and romance, and then there’s marriage; there are politicians, actors and just plain middle class workers at IKEA and in an optometry store in Wassila, Alaska. Henry Holden creates characters that are simultaneously similar and different…and we can relate to all of them.”
Heartfelt gratitude to Henry Holden for his talent to inspire!!
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