There are moments that define your life. Fortunately, for me, I recognized these two. In 2003, during the thirty-six hours that my wife Alexandra delivered our daughter Vivienne, I realized—with unshakable clarity—just how powerful women really are. Still, I couldn’t help but think that millions of women have died in childbirth or pregnancy just trying to be a mother—and more do every day. No woman should have to die in her effort to become a mother. That’s when I made the quiet commitment to myself to fight for women in poverty worldwide.
Three years later, another moment: I was standing on an escalator at JFK International Airport in New York—and it hit me like a thunderbolt: the “I Am Powerful” public service announcement (PSA). I was struck by the image: a strong, dignified, graceful woman, and next to her the words: “She has the power to change her world. You have the power to help her do it.” I was so emotionally drawn into that PSA that I almost fell off the escalator at the bottom! It conveyed everything I believe in, and in an uplifting way: empowering women to change their world. It also inspired me to think that I could make a tangible difference in the lives of women and their families worldwide. And I took action as a result.
A Challenge for You
Why do I care enough to race the Hawaii Ironman Triathlon World Championships and raise $1 million to fight global poverty through CARE? I believe we all need to be inspired by a greater purpose to confront life’s hardest challenges head-on. As I train to compete in the world’s greatest endurance event in October, 2007, I call on you to join me by setting your own health and fitness goals, getting active and channeling your new energy and support into empowering marginalized women to improve the health and well-being for themselves and their families.
Even before I traveled with CARE to the African country of Mozambique in January, two specific facts staggered me. The first is that women and girls make up seventy percent of the world’s poorest people, suffering the consequences through preventable illnesses, malnutrition, and an overall lack of opportunity to succeed in life. Secondly, as obesity rates soar among adults in the United States, our generation could be the first in history whose life expectancy will be shorter than our parents’. We need a better balance.
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