Tyler

Beginning as the son of 2 high school drop-outs: an ex-WWII turned commercial Pan American pilot and a former Playboy Bunny, I've lived a DENSELY packed 29 years - typically anchored by calamity. My entire family died before my 22nd birthday. And still much a child - I took on the responsibility of raising a daughter at the age of 17. Yet this is my life – like it or not. Pain and adversity are relative and we all have bled - to some degree. The question is – how do you apply this positively towards your future? Life is about choices – and I CHOSE to use these experiences to better empathize with people’s pain. But as Goethe pointed out: “…knowing is not enough – we must apply.” And that is the new meaning my life has taken on – to help alleviate that pain worldwide.So my life has not been easy – but for this I am fortunate. For this, I understand pain, resilience, and relentlessness. For this I understand PEOPLE!! It's quite amusing how contemporary society urges its members to strive for perfection - and they do. The irony is, however, the more people yearn for this state of futile infallibility - the farther away they are pushed. In our distorted world of "Jerry Springer" and "Atkins diets" - people seem unable to sit comfortably with their inherent selves and have lost sight with how genuine happiness is procured and sustained. At the same time, while the West dwells on their inadequacies by being so profoundly concerned with the birth of "Britney's baby" and marriage of "Brad and Angelina" - over 70% of the globe is BURNING. We must WAKE UP and cease with our complacency to just minimally live life. We must LEAD life - and take these reigns from the social structure that has been so heartlessly running it into the ground!Indeed, my life has taught me many lessons and has given me explosive passion - and I will put every microliter of this irrepressible energy I have into anything that will help the 70% of the “world that doesn’t matter”. In fact, while working in impoverished settings, including South Africa and Haiti, I have found that this “street credibility” materializes with my personal interactions. Somehow they are able to envisage my triumph over adversity and reward this manifest passion with deep and inexplicable bonds. This, then, is my greatest talent – to connect with the suffering pervading the globe.Since this realization, I have sat 4 ft. away from 800 lb. silverback gorillas, swam with great white sharks, skied the French Alps, been deluged with the sweat of Sumo wrestlers and blood of Muay Thai boxers, watched the sun rise over the Taj Mahal and set beyond Angkor Wat, rafted the Nile, conquered Mt. Kilimanjaro, and hiked the Inca trail to Machu Picchu – to name a few. Yet more importantly, I have worked in a health-care capacity in myriad countries - including Mexico, Uganda, South Africa, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Peru, Brazil, Japan, Thailand, Myanmar, Korea and India. Surely, my greatest passion of all...