Ted Williams...a story of faith, perserverance, and compassion

I saw this story while at my gym and I felt compelled to share it on my blog as well as post some links to it. Having done my charity outreach to the local homeless shelter I saw first hand the misery on the faces of the people seeking assistance. It's good to see that sometimes a person can hit rock bottom but with some faith, a little help, and simple human decency they can accomplish great things.

Ted Williams (born September 22, 1957) is an American voice-over artist based in Columbus, Ohio who became known when a brief interview with him while he was homeless was posted to YouTube, quickly becoming a viral video sensation in early January 2011.He has been called the "Homeless Man with the Golden Voice". The original video posting (first posted on the Columbus Dispatch website) has been removed as a result of copyright protection violation, though numerous copies of the video still exist on different user channels.The original video had over 13 million views in its first three days before it was taken down.

Williams was born and raised in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, New York. According to his mother, his father named him after the all-star baseball player of the same name who was his favorite player at the time. He is a father to nine children: seven girls and two boys.Williams served three years in the United States Army, was honorably discharged, and attended school for voice acting.His inspiration to become a radio announcer came from a field trip at age 14, when he found that a radio announcer who he had heard looked nothing like he had imagined. Williams had experience as a radio disc jockey before. He worked some overnight shifts for WVKO (AM) in Columbus when the station played soul music.Williams stated that around 1993, cocaine, crackand alcohol abuse complicated his career and led to his then-current state of homelessness. He says he has been clean and sober since mid-2008.

A video was recorded in Columbus, Ohio at the Hudson Street off-ramp of Interstate 71 (40°00′54″N 82°59′42″W / 40.015063°N 82.994941°W / 40.015063; -82.994941), and posted at the Columbus Dispatch's website on January 3, 2011 by Doral Chenoweth, a videographer for the paper.^[11][12] It was reposted to YouTube, and within one day it had been viewed millions of times Williams' story also garnered a large following on the social news websites, with many users pledging donations of money, clothes, and job offers.On January 5, 2011, Williams appeared on the "Dave and Jimmy Show" on WNCI and was interviewed (since clean shaven and hair cut) by The Early Show on CBS. He was interviewed on Today, January 6, doing the lead-in voice over, revealing that he was to have an interview to do voice overs for Kraft Foods.


On January 5, 2011, Williams attempted to fly to New York to reunite with his 90-year old (92 year old according to other news sources) mother.However, TSA did not allow him to do so since Williams lacked the proper identification material required to enter an aircraft. Williams eventually did arrive at the airport in New York, but according to some reports, was escorted away from the media, whom his mother was among. Williams, through the intervention of Today and The Early Show, was able to reunite with his mother the following day.



Since his story hit news, he has been offered several jobs.
On January 5, the Cleveland Cavaliers NBA basketball team offered him a job and a house. The offer calls for Williams to do full-time voiceover work with the Cavaliers and Quicken Loans Arena. Williams responded, "That’s the best deal ever!"
Also on January 7, Williams was officially hired by MSNBC to provide voiceovers for the network.Williams was also hired to be the voice behind Kraft Foods' new TV campaign due to launch January 9 during the 2011 Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl on ESPN.
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Alot of what RLSH and costumed activists do is provide assistance to the homeless. Thanatos is nothing short of an iconic figure in the ranks of the RLSH when it comes to this, serving as a prime example of those who lend a much needed hand to those in dire need of it. Reading the story of Ted Williams I am encouraged by the acts of charity, by those reaching out ot help him rebuild a life that was destroyed by the demons of alcoholism & drug use that sent him spiraling into despair. I can't imagine how many people passed him by with their cars on the day they filmed him but because of a chance encounter with him by someone in the broadcasting industry and a gut feeling that made that person want to film Mr. Williams, Ted now finds himself on the cusp of rebuilding his life one moment at a time. No one except Ted can really know where his life will take him from this point on - in many ways fate has just reached out and grabbed him, lifted him up off theground, dusted off his pants and said "Here's your shot my friend. Here's your second chance. Don't blow it." But this opportunity would never have happened if he would have been ignored, cast away into the sea of homeless that more often than not are silenced by the sometimes apathetic nature of human society. Instead SOMEONE took the time to care, to spotlight Teds situation and as fate would have it, the dominoes tumbled in his favor. RLSH/costumed activists help fill a niche like those of the guy who filmed Ted and got the whole ball rolling. Though the RLSH may never create the kind of publicity to help someone on the level that Ted Williams recieved assistance, the point is the assistance RLSH/costumed activists provide at the very least a small respite to the suffering of he homeless and much like the Ted Williams situation, a simple act of random kindness can lead to amazing things. Faith, perserverance, and compassion have turned the life of Ted Williams around. Let's hope he makes the most of this opportunity.

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Now on to the "I told you.." section of my blog.

Regarding the TMZ article where the Potentate (or the Impotent One as I like to call him) talks about the
whole RLSV/RLSH thing, check out these quotes...

Potentate - "We would never cheer at the injury of an actor doing their job, but yes, we're thrilled any time the ventures of heroes and their overblown attention-seeking behavior blows up in their faces. It's a disaster, doing what heroes do best, failing spectacularly and looking ridiculous while doing so."

Update to the performers injuries:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110108/ap_on_en_ot/us_theater_spider_man_fall

"The 31-year-old suffered a fractured skull, a fractured shoulder blade, four broken ribs and three broken vertebrae during his Dec. 20 tumble.The fall that left Tierney in a back brace and with eight screws in his back happened only seven minutes before the end of the Dec. 20 performance."

And the Potentate was thirlled by this...












Now given that the actor playing Spiderman fell and got injured and the statements of the Potentate above, here's food for thought for RLSH/costumed activists - the Potentate & RLSV, by the quotes above, ENJOY the thought of knowing you might get seriously hurt in the quest to help people. Yes ladies and gentleman, the idea of each of you getting seriously maimed makes them happy. Something to think about perhaps.

And he calls RLSH/costumed activists actions "attention-seeking behavior" and yet he goes out of his way to interview himself on TMZ and plaster the article for the masses to see. Talk about the pot calling the kettle black.