“Sgt. Wells’s New Skull” reminds me so much of my dad’s saga–the head injury, the sniper attack, the recovery against all odds, even the language from the physicians of never having seen a patient quite that bad off before.

Brian Mockenhaupt placed as a finalist in the 2007 National Magazine Writing Awards for the feature, and it’s well deserved. If your attention span is a basically a gnat’s like mine, force yourself to concentrate and take yourself into this world. It’s worth it, and reminds you of just how far away from Iraq you are and aren’t.

Brian also had the cover of Esquire a few months back called “What I’ve Learned” about this completely hardcore and badass triple amputee. I only finally read this now, and it definitely penetrates your brain. Whatever you’re complaining about, take a second to just feel your fingertips and toes and flood yourself with gratitude.

It also reminds me of one of the last articles I wrote when I used to write profiles about physicians and scientists for Northwestern University. This man, Dr. Dudley Childress, who is a pioneer in the prosthetics and orthotics realm, was a human being of absolutely the finest caliber. The profile I wrote on him a few years back is here, and consider this: he developed the first functional myoelectric arm in history (meaning, for someone who has lost a hand, he created a mechanical device synched into the actual electrical impulses of the arm, restoring the functions of precious mobility). Imagine that.

That’s what he did, and that’s what he does.