Satchel Page, the famed baseball pitcher, played in the major leagues at age 48, an age when many of his contemporaries were already years into retirement. Although past his prime at age 42, he was belatedly introduced to the major leagues as the oldest rookie ever. Later, at age 59, he had the dubious honor of one last three-inning fling, also making him the oldest man to play major league baseball.

Though Page was not an educated man, his stories, a mixture of fact and embellishment, were legion. "Satch" made several wise observations that stood him well and are worthy of our consideration. He was often heard to question "How old would you be, if you didn’t know how old you were? I know 20-year-old guys with 90-year-old minds and 90-year-olds with 20-year-old minds." Page told it as it was—and is. He was a hero not because of his talent but because he was one of the original great African-American baseball legends fighting a color ban. That struggle was finally won and proved that race need not be a barrier to success. In 1971, on the proudest day of his life, Satchel Page was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame.

During the past year, another special individual accepted a challenge of a different sort. He returned to space, thirty-six years after participating in the first orbital space flight of the United States of America. Not many people have the opportunity to be involved in such a challenge. But former Senator and Illustrious Brother John Glenn, 33° (pictured above), had the "Right Stuff." To add to his meritorious service, Glenn was recently appointed an honorary director for the Masonic Learning Centers for Children in the Northern Jurisdiction of the Scottish Rite.

Glenn’s wife, Annie, had a terrible affliction of stuttering during most of her early years. After much hard work, she controlled this disconcerting problem and brought two heroes to the same household. John proved that age shouldn’t be an obstruction to a continued productive life, and Annie showed that a distressful problem can be overcome with persistent effort.

Dr. Sally Ride, Dr. Judith Resnik, Christa McAuliffe, and all the other women space scientist/adventurers proved that men are not alone in willingness to face the hazardous ordeals of modern space exploration. They demonstrated that being a female is not a barrier to self-motivation and the passion to accomplish what you want.

Congressional Medal of Honor recipient General Jimmy Doolittle, 33°, planned and undertook what appeared as a no-win mission during the darkest moments of World War II. With 18 B-25 crews, he initiated an attack from the deck of an aircraft carrier and successfully bombed Tokyo. This was the first good news the United States had received after several months of demoralizing defeats. The deed buoyed the spirits of the American public immensely and was a turning point of the war in Asia. Brother Doolittle was only

five-feet, four-inches tall. He proved that a man’s physical stature need not be a hurdle to reaching goals.

Leroy Brown (BJ), a young man and the only witness to a murder, recently chose to stand against the mob. It cost him his life, but he proved himself a hero and that age need not be a barrier to doing the right thing.

Eleanor Roosevelt was often called an "Ugly Duckling" by her aunts. Even her mother called her "Granny" because she thought of her as an uncomely child. But history treated Eleanor much kinder than did her family. She married Franklin Delano Roosevelt, a Mason, who eventually became the 32nd President of the United States. Eleanor became his eyes and ears and, to a certain extent, his conscience. She is known as one of the great First Ladies and proved that beauty, in and of itself, is not a criterion to being a great person.

FDR, as he was popularly known, contracted polio and was limited in his ability to move about. In spite of being confined to using crutches for most of his life, he served four terms as President, including service during the Great Depression and World War II. In spite of these crises and other challenges of that era, he proved a physical handicap is no barrier to being a great leader.

All of the above are heroes, and these are only a few who have overcome obstacles and proved that success is caused more by mental attitude than mental capacity. As distinguished as the above listing is, of even greater heroism is the performance demonstrated by the young people in the Childhood Language Disorders Clinics, Centers, and Programs of the Scottish Rite.

Few adults can realize the stress and heartbreaking ordeals these children overcome. Unfortunately, no amount of space can fairly describe the frustration and mental anguish of their experiences. One young man, however, attests to the success of the program, and, if you read between the lines, you get a sense of the torment and pain through which he and other children with language disorders have passed. Travis I. Helms, a client of the Scottish Rite Clinic in Cheyenne, Wyoming, wrote the following. He titled it simply "How the Childhood Language Clinic Helped Me."

"I went to the Childhood Language Clinic with spelling and writing problems. With spelling, I forgot what the words looked like or spelled them the way they sounded, so mission was mishun. I had trouble getting my thoughts down on paper and often forgot them as I was writing. I went through a large amount of testing to find where I needed the most work. The hardest thing for me to do was write. The most common activity was making sentences from a stack of cards. Spelling and writing a sentence was a huge struggle. So, throughout the summer, the clinic combined both. We did many different activities that slowly built up my skills in writing and spelling. After summer, much to my surprise, I was writing many paragraphs and stories with ease. Now, I enjoy writing stories of mystery, thrill, and suspense. I feel that I have improved much over three years in both writing and spelling thanks to the Childhood Language Clinic."

Heroes are greatly regarded for their achievements. Who better to salute than the children of the Scottish Rite Childhood Language Disorders Program?

Jack E. Nixson serves as the Grand Almoner of The Supreme Council and has served as Grand Master of Wyoming; Grand High Priest, Illustrious Grand Master, and Grand Commander of the Grand Bodies of the York Rite; Grand Patron of the Eastern Star; Associate Guardian of Job’s Daughters; and a Chapter Advisor for DeMolay. Ill. Nixson currently serves on the Masonic Renewal Committee of North America for the Grand Lodge of Wyoming and for the Supreme Council, 33°, S.J.