My contribution to Making Waves

[Making_Waves_of_my_Own]

Greetings! As I came across this forum a few days ago, this is my first posting here. Hello to all my fellow Knight Rider fans!

Earlier this year, I have written a heartfelt letter to David Hasselhoff. In my letter, I explained how the Knight Rider television series made me understand (at an early age) that each of us can be heroes - in other words, ordinary people who triumph over extraordinary circumstances - like our favorite television characters did each week. Amazingly, David responded to my letter earlier this summer, asking me if he can include my full letter at the end of Making Waves to serve as an inspiration to others. He believes that my story is genuinely evocative of the Knight Rider theme that, "One man can make a difference."

David's offer was beyond my wildest dreams!

Since it's a few days before the launch of David's memoirs, I am including my full letter below for all my fellow Knight Rider fans. I hope you enjoy reading my letter to David as much as I did writing it!

Comments are welcomed!

-- Paul

-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --

New Jersey
January 19th, 2006

Dear Mr. Hasselhoff,

It is with pleasure that I am writing to you! Happy New Year! It was twenty-four years ago when you first inspired me with your television character, Michael Knight. The theme of Knight Rider, where “one man can make a difference,” is a theme I have consistently applied to my own life. After I watched the first few episodes of your television show in 1982, I became inspired to continue visiting schools to talk about the positive perspectives and realities of growing up with my cerebral palsy. You see, for the next two decades, I never lost the passion for educating young students to become the best they can possibly be, and to share their talents with others. Though Michael Knight was a fictional person who never asked me to believe in him, he was the first television character who taught me to believe in myself and try to always come out a winner.

Since I was ten years old in 1981, I have enjoyed visiting elementary, middle, and high schools to discuss the importance of disability awareness and character education. By sharing personal experiences with humor, and encouraging students to ask questions that would help positively shape their understanding of people with disabilities, I try to instill the hope, energy, and inspiration that motivates them to realize their own goals and dreams. There is no better feeling in the world than to make students smile and feel good about themselves, so the future for all of us would then look so much brighter!

Since I was unable to walk unassisted for the first seven years of my life, you might be asking – what is my special dream? Simply being able to walk like everyone else. When I was a goalie in a soccer game at 10 years old, that was the first time I was able to stand for two hours on my own two feet, and my heart surged with such pride and enthusiasm for reaching that simple goal! So with intense physical and occupational therapy over the years, my leg muscles have eventually gotten stronger to the point where I am now able to walk over three miles on the treadmill every other day! Presently, I am pursuing my academic dream too, since I am a meteorologist and Ph.D candidate at Rutgers University. (Meteorology is the only career where you can be wrong and still keep your job!) Despite earning two degrees in meteorology and pursuing a third one, my career goal is to continue challenging students to learn more about the world around them, enabling them to discover and share with others their own gifts and talents!

An experience that helped shape my personality was a discovery that you must be your own best friend before you can discover and truly accept the meaning of having a disability. This occurred when I was fifteen years old, during a class trip to visit the beautiful St. Joseph’s Cathedral in Montreal, Canada, in 1986. The leg braces and crutches covering the walls and the entire ceiling of that cathedral were left there by thousands of people who believed that their visit to the shrine cured them of their challenges. So I took my leg braces off, left them on the floor, and was able to walk down the church steps with Saint Joseph guiding me. My mom took my braces home with her, and I still needed to wear them for another year. But, on the very same date one year later, my orthopedist finally decided to allow me to walk without my leg braces, and I have not needed them since. For the first time in my life, I understood that the question, “Why me?” was an unusually selfish attitude; you should be asking “Why not me?” In other words, your challenges are not supposed to paralyze you; they are supposed to help you discover that all life is yours – to conquer, to love, to live.

For the past five years, I have been especially proud to be a member of a unique speakers bureau called A Vision in Motion. This bureau specializes in experienced motivators who have each overcome tremendous adversity and inspire others through their workshops, programs, and keynotes! Thus, I am part of a team of speakers with various backgrounds, and we smoothly work together and address different topics such as disability awareness, self-esteem enhancement, peer pressure and violence prevention, anti-bullying strategies, and other topics that help enhance the intellectual growth of our audiences. A fellow speaker, Cornelius Barker, for example, is actually a former gang member who turned his life around and became a school teacher, principal, and in fact, a school administrator! Cornelius is a truly amazing guy who has become one of my role models for his attitude and outlook on life. You can see the amazing collection of speakers we have at the web site http://www.avisioninmotion.com

Another speaker in our bureau, Tom Malloy, is a producer/actor who has actually inspired me to write to you! (Tom provided me with your agent’s address). In October, I spoke to students at a school in southern Virginia, and Tom and I took a seven-hour roadtrip from New Jersey to get to the school. Tom was the one who was driving so that I would not be tired when it came time for me to speak to the students. We stopped at the Cheesecake Factory for lunch on our way down to Virginia, and ate at the Cracker Barrel on our return trip home! During this time, we talked about television shows that have inspired both of us when we were kids, and Knight Rider was one of them. I discovered, to my amazement, that Tom took his grandmother out for dinner every New Year’s Eve, which was exactly what I used to do every year when my own grandmother was alive. And even if she passed away five years ago, she is still living inside me. For when you are reading this very letter, Mr. Hasselhoff, you are not merely reading what I am writing. My grandmother is also talking to you as I type this, because she will always be a part of me. So isn’t the heart a beautiful pen with which to write memories? It’s an experience I pass along to students in my discussion of the importance of role models in life.

With the mention of Knight Rider, I cannot forget the impact that the prototype car, KITT, had on me! For eight years, I just did not realize that I had my own KITT but it wasn’t a Pontiac at all! My aim was to make other drivers smile on the highways, so I transformed my white Mercury Topaz into a M-series BMW 330Ci. I removed all of the round Mercury emblems and replaced them with BMW hood emblems, on the grille and wheels! I even looked on eBay and purchased the chrome 330Ci logo and a M-series badge (to cover up the holes on the trunklid!). It was an amazing transformation that looked very much factory-like, and the car was in excellent cosmetic and mechanical condition.

While I was driving to one of my school programs early one morning last year, a driver cut me off so closely that it forced me off the highway and into a guardrail at 50 mph [the driver never even stopped to help]. Fortunately, I was not hurt, and the car – though totalled – was still running! So I turned the car around when the traffic was clear, and drove a quarter-mile until the shoulder opened up, pulled onto the grass, and called the state police. As they took the report for the single-car accident, I was not worried about the car at all – I simply wanted to get to the school because I wanted to make the third-graders smile. I just didn’t want to let the students down if I had to cancel the program. The state police gave me permission to continue driving slowly to the school, though the car had virtually no front-end on it! I got to the school that morning and gave the program, but I got to tell you that this was emotionally among the most difficult programs that I have ever done.

This experience made me realize that life itself is a fantastic dream. There are good times and bad times as you go through life. The good times are when the sun rises in the east, and when it’s high in the sky, you feel good about yourself, and everything is going your way. But there comes times when the sun sets, and you go through a period of nightfall – that’s anger, frustration, depression coming to the forefront. But you cannot lose sight of the future – the sun must rise again, it has to, so good times are ahead. I am thus living a fantastic dream, having new experiences each day that help me re-evaluate myself and my purpose in life. And the good thing from this accident was the fact that I took care of that pseudo-BMW for eight years – but that morning the car finally took care of me: I wasn’t hurt. So, in a way, my car has also been a KITT to me.

It is my dream to own, and take care of, a KITT replica. As I am continuing to pay for my education, and also help support the speakers bureau through my programs, my dream of owning one would need to wait. That’s okay with me – we are not given dreams without also being given the power to make them come true!

Mr. Hasselhoff, it is also my dream to meet you one day and personally thank you for motivating me to succeed in my personal and academic life. Perhaps on your next visit to New Jersey or the New York City area, and if your schedule permits, you are certainly welcome to attend and audit one of my disability awareness programs. If you know teachers in southern California who may be interested in my programs, please do not hesitate to let them know that I am eager to visit California since my first and only vacation there during the summer of 1979! (At that time, I recall seeing a huge sign for Bakersfield on the highway, and since my mom was driving, I was actually pleading with her to stop by the California Highway Patrol office so that I can meet Jon and Ponch of ChiPs! That television show was then very real to an 8-year-old boy!).

I encourage you to visit my web site below, which I have designed myself to provide information (and hopefully inspiration!) to teachers that describe my school awareness programs. You can see that I enjoy positively shaping the lives of others so that they can become proud of themselves. I do hope that you support my passion for educating others about disabilities and how a positive attitude can affect anyone in their lives.

Though my family and friends cannot appreciate a television show like Knight Rider in the same way that I do, I believe that it inspired me to take the overall theme to heart and harness its power in a way that few people can understand, or even identify with. I now look back and realize those four years may have been the most critical in helping me to develop an appreciation that my own physical challenges might be among the greatest gifts that I have received. My parents and family certainly helped a great deal and deserve special thanks, yes, but I needed some sort of personal revelation that could only come outside of the family. Your show, along with others like the Dukes of Hazzard and ChiPs, made me understand that each of us can also be heroes – in other words, ordinary people facing extraordinary circumstances – like our favorite television characters did each week. I then began to understand that I have the power to share this positive perspective with others to effectively shatter negative stereotypes, because from what I have seen, it’s a negative attitude that can very well become a disability. However, if you have learned to embrace a positive attitude and enjoy interacting with others, you have the power to dream about your future and also build upon that dream.

Best wishes for a successful and productive new year!

Sincerely yours,

Paul Stuart
http://www.justthewayyouare.com

[Lyn]

That's a really nice thing for DH to put in his book, and hopefully it will be included in the U.S. publication of the autobiography when it's released here.
That's actually a nice letter, and it's great that DH himself liked your letter enough to include it in his book, so here's to more insprational stories that can be told.

[DavidHFanNatalie]

Paul, I thoroughly enjoyed reading your letter to David! It is very deep and touching...I'm so happy that David is including your letter in his book. David is always so nice to his fans and I'm happy for you that this dream of yours came true with David. Reading your letter reminds me of how David and Knight Rider have been such an impact on my life as well, helping me through my tough times. David has touched so many of our hearts and helped so many of us through challenges in our own lives, in more ways than he will ever know.

You are really an inspiration to all of us, overcoming so much in your life and still keeping a positive attitude. Thank you so much for sharing your beautiful letter with us...looking forward to seeing it in David's book!
Take Care & God Bless You,
Natalie, davidhasselhoffonline.com

[Making_Waves_of_my_Own]

Thanks for your warm compliments, Lyn and Natalie!

I just looked at the page proofs of my letter that the publisher, Hodder and Stoughton, mailed to me, so I have an idea of how the letter appears in the book. It is Pages 253 to 258 in Making Waves. I also note that some words in my letter are actually spelled differently than they are here in the States, but then again, it's due to differences in spelling between our countries.

Maybe these spelling variations are the reason why the book is delayed by a few months from U.S. bookstores? After all, the publisher is based in the U.K. Does anyone know if Making Waves is also debuting in other countries like Germany and Italy in two weeks, or is it exclusively in the U.K.?

Lyn, I know that the letter will also appear in the U.S. version of the book too. I wanted to make some minor grammatical corrections to the page proofs once I received them from the publisher, but it was too late in the process to make any changes. Rather, the publisher indicated that she would implement my corrections in the book for an eventual future release here in the States. Thank you also for your kind words, Lyn, much appreciated!

Natalie, that is certainly nice to know that David acknowleges his fans that helped him succeed with his multiple television series. I'm happy to hear that his characters have helped you through some apparently rough times. Though I haven't had an opportunity to visit your site thoroughly, I'd be interested to know if you also wrote to him and perhaps share the ways that he inspired you to succeed.

After all, we can continue to Make Waves of our own! <So true!> haha

[LuvKITT]

Wow, that was quite a letter Paul. I was 4 years old in 1982 and I still remember watching it to this day. Knight Rider has always been my favorite show. It has always had an impact on me as well. Michael Knight is one of my heros and always will be. I have actually written 3 Knight Rider stories and working on my 4th. I use to hate writing but I have enjoyed every minute of writing these stories.

I had the great joy of buying my own Trans Am just recently. It is already black but still needs work and paint. I have already enjoyed working on it. I hope to have the outside converted by next year. I look forward to hearing people's stories and seeing kids faces when I take my KITT to car shows and Knight Rider get togethers. I am sure your dream of owning a KITT replica will come true also. I never thought I would ever own a Trans Am even though I loved them so much but I was wrong. I had a dream and I finally put my dream into motion and it wasn't long before I found the car I was looking for.

I had a friend that had cerebral palsy and I would take her places every once in a while. She moved away a few years ago but I did enjoy getting her out because I knew she enjoyed it so much. I think it is wonderful that you have come so far with CP. I am glad that David wanted to put your letter in the book, that is truly fantastic.

I am sure Knight Rider has been an inspiration to all of us in one way or another. Thanks for sharing your story.

Take care and God bless.

[Lyn]

Hi, Paul, I'd like to tell you that "Knight Rider" came at a time when I wasn't feeling that great healthwise, and the show helped me through some tough moments in my own life, and I always looked forward to when it was on, and David Hasselhoff helped to give me hope in my life when he was on "Knight Rider".
I've been a fan of his ever since, and I'm looking forward to reading his book, including your nice letter.
Also, "Knight Rider" helped me to use my imagination quite a lot, and I wrote my own stories about the show as well, which I still have.
DH caught my attention a few years or so before "Knight Rider" was first on TV when he was a guest star on the "Love Boat", even if I didn't know who he was and even if I didn't know about Hasselhoff being a real last name or not(I thought it was something someone made up, but now I know differently; Hasselhoff is indeed a real last name!)
I was sorely disappointed when the show was cancelled too soon, because I felt that there were so many more stories to tell about Michael and KITT.
In any case, I hope you're not too bored by my own story about how "Knight Rider" was a huge help to me at all....

[Making_Waves_of_my_Own]

Julie, it's evident that YOU are also an inspiration to your friends, including your friend that also has the special ability of cerebral palsy. We all need to keep in mind that a person with a special ability is NO LESS a miracle today than when they were one day or one week old, cooing in their mother's arms!

Julie, never forget that you are -- and always will be -- a hero to someone else.

Lyn, thank you also for sharing your story with me (and with us) about how David's characters on his numerous shows inspired you. Interesting lives never bore me, because I try to absorb the perspectives of those around me and, in fact, try to change the attitudes that could be more positive, more uplifting, in the future.

I was also upset when NBC pulled the plug on Knight Rider, because David actually took each of his viewers on an awesome ride in KITT every week. Michael Knight encouraged each of us to triumph over the adverse circumstances we were faced with each day, and gave us hope that our future would be even brighter for ourselves and for our community. He brought to life the vision that "One man can make a difference" and, by example, gave the phrase a fresh meaning.

And, Natalie, I wanted to ask you if I can have your permission to include some of your online Knight Rider photos on the David letter I have uploaded to my web site below. Please take a moment to check out the photos that accompany my letter, because when you read it online, it's more interesting when the text is accompanied by visuals. I have also used "alt" tags to give your site full credit for these KR pictures, like -- Image courtesy of http://www.davidhasselhoffonline.com Please let me know if I have your permission to do this -- thank you!

The link to my Making Waves letter is now at the bottom of this page:

http://www.avisioninmotion.com

[Lyn]

We live in a society today in the U.S., where superficial attitudes where selfishness exists too often in Hollywood and that kind of thing is embraced in both showbiz and life in the U.S. far too much, so it's refreshing to me to see that there are people who live day to day with genuine work ethics, courage and conviction and are inspiring people with their genuine hard work to actually accomplish something really meaningful in their lives as you have, and I'm glad DH had the sense to include your letter in his book.
Moving right along, I've found DH to be an interesting person(not just as a celebrity) over the years that I've been a fan of both his acting and singing, but I still think that Michael Knight is a great character for him to have portrayed on TV, plus I hope he'll do some more work on stage, too.

[FuzzieDice]

Nice letter, Paul and congrats getting DH's attention with it.

I can very well relate to how cars take good care of their drivers. Many here already know about Dryden, my 1987 Pontiac 6000 and good friend. In fact, I wrote a short "essay" for the National Fibromyalgia Association about my car:

http://fmaware.org/fmOnlineNewsletter/2 ... icle19.htm

That's me and Dryden before I blacked out the front grille (actually replaced it), put on different stripes (but still white) and different hubcaps. Dryden's current look can be found here:

http://www.cardomain.com/ride/2091419

That car did more than just haul my lazy butt around to stores. He had helped me build up some physical strength when trying to preserve him from rust. He came home around the corner with a completely bad radiator (leaking and you could put your hand through the bottom of it as the fins were GONE). He got home with a parking brake half stuck. He got home instead of dying out somewhere else when the fuel pump went. He kept going 4 months without a working radiator fan (engine computer was faulty and kept turning the fan on constantly, burning out the motor). I replaced the fan and engine computer myself. All's working great! He had a mysterious buzzing noise in the dashboard one day. I was on my way to see a friend. Then I became quite ill and therefore on the way home, he never made that sound. Until the next day. Then it went away for good. Never knew what it was. Probably those darn little 'helicopters' (tree seed things).

He's always just kept going and going. even if his parts are falling off. If he knows you need to get going, he'll take you there. Like when his Torque Converter Clutch locks up (very rarely). My friend was borrowing him. They got home. Dryden had stalled out 3 times on them (I didn't describe fully the plug to pull from the engine, so they unhooked the temperature switch instead, which meant Dryden still was locking up 2 more times). He's quite peppy for a 4-cyl. Iron Duke powerplant under the hood!

And he's a very much-loved car. I could never get rid of him. I take good care of him.

And he takes good care of me, too.

So I can fully relate when a driver is very much attached to their car. I have a very special car friend too. May not be a KITT. He's a Pontiac though.

[Making_Waves_of_my_Own]

That's awesome how you treat your car! I took a peek at all of the pictures on Cardomain and have to say that it's a nice Pontiac! It's nearly vintage, I might add, and I appreciate the fact that you do keep your engine bay in nice shape too.

I have personally worked with a friend, Candy, who has fibromyalgia and have learned a great deal from her. I think that the qualities that are most needed for famiy members having these kinds of special abilities are compassion and understanding; otherwise, the resulting ignorance can breed intolerance.

Thank you for sharing that article and your "independence." I'm with you all the way!

[/img]

[DavidHFanNatalie]

Hi Paul,
Your site looks great! Yes, you are very welcome to use any photos from my site for your website that you like! I read your letter again on your site and I liked the photos that you picked to display. I've been working on my front page and would love to feature your website on davidhasselhoffonline.com!

David has inspired me to succeed in so many ways. For me at such a young age, Knight Rider was more than just a TV show...it taught me life lessons, always gave the right examples of how being good was rewarding, and showed me that when you have the courage to face your fears, you can conquer them. As I got older, I wanted to find out more about the man behind the character. The more I read about him, the more facinated I became. So many stars you read about seem so superficial, or phony...but not David. What really grabbed my attention when I read about him, was his good heart. He was always saying something kind about someone else, or telling of places he traveled where he visited people to make them smile.

I remember the first time I saw the concert "DH & The Night Rockers & KITT"...when he was in Austria and Switzerland visiting sick children in hospitals, giving them Knight Rider photos and toys. It was a very touching scene. David grew to be a role model for me, and when I'd face adversity in my own life, reading his words like "Never Give Up, Dreams Do Come True" really helped me to keep going. Back in 1995 I wanted to build a website for David, but I was in a different place at that time and was unable to have internet access.

From 1994 to 1997 I lived in a small town and went to a high school that I hated everyday of my life. I had lived in the same house since I was born until I was almost 16 when my dad retired from his job and decided to move us out to this small town. I was forced to leave the only home I'd ever known and all my friends behind. It was during those 3 years that I think David helped me the most. I fell into a deep depression...some days it was so deep that I wanted to drive away and never return. My parents fought a lot. I was an only child trying to survive in a place where people didn't accept you unless you were born into their town. We had to drive 30 miles with an ice chest just to get our groceries! One of the hardest parts was being away from my closest and best friend for 4 years.

I will never forget that day in April 1995 when I was in Wal-Mart shopping with my mom and found my first album ever of David's. His self titled album "David Hasselhoff", that had just been released in America. It was the only one there...a cassette tape. I didn't even know he had an album coming out then ( no internet! LOL). I picked it up and to my dismay the case was cracked. I didn't care; I bought it anyway! I listened to that tape every single day. It was my favorite album, and the words in those songs really gave me strength I needed to get through the days. I looked forward to watching Baywatch and Baywatch Nights each week. I would come home after school and watch Knight Rider on USA network. Being a fan of David's gave me a lot of joy and really helped me to overcome the pain of depression. After high school we moved back to my old neighborhood where things started turning around again. I took some time off before college to help my family through some difficult times. Even though I had been David's fan since the age of 3, being a David Hasselhoff fan really took on new meaning to me after high school...David helped me to find my strength through those difficult years in more ways than I could ever imagine.

In 2000 when I started my website for him, I was so excited about it, that I wanted to write him a letter. It was around this time that he would be going to Broadway for Jekyll and Hyde, but sadly I wasn't able to attend. I was going to college at the time and on a budget so I was crushed about not going. So many of my friends went, and one of them told me that if I wanted to write David a letter, that they would give it to him for me. I wrote my letter and told David a little bit about myself, how long I'd been a fan, how much I'd collected his memorabilia and had admired him over the years, and about my site. Three weeks after my friend had gone to NY and handed him my letter, I received a nice surprise...

I got a call from my friend, and she was very excited. She told me I needed to go visit David's website to see "a surprise". I went to davidhasselhoff.com and discovered that there was a new section online for "Favorite Links" and there was davidhasselhoffonline.com right at the top of the page! You can't imagine how happy that made me feel after being so disappointed over missing my chance to meet him and see his Broadway show...I was also very surprised because my site had only been online for 4 months at that time. This webpage is still active even now: http://www.davidhasselhoff.com/favoritelinks.html

When I finally got the chance to make the website I'd always wanted to for David, I really "threw myself into the project" ...I'm still just as enthusiastic about working on my site now as I was in the beginning. I've met a lot of friends through the internet who are David fans. I would like to write David more, and let him know just how special he is and how much I continue to enjoy his work. I keep hoping for him to do a book tour here in the US soon so that I can finally fulfill my dream of meeting him in person. Everyone who saw J&H in 2000 kept telling me what a great job he did on all of the songs and I hope I get to experience this live someday!

Congratulations again on your letter in Making Waves and keep up the great work with your motivational speaking. I wish we could have had a motivational speaker as teriffic as you are visit my high school! What you are doing is fantastic and there is no better gift than to help someone else.
God Bless,
Nat

[Lyn]

I've liked DH since 1983, when I knew who the heck he was, but at the same time, he'd caught my attention in 1979 when I didn't know who he was or his name, so when I saw his last name on TV(via an episode of "The Love Boat"), I was wondering to myself, "What kind of last name is that anyway? Is there such a last name as that??!?!"
I was 9 at the time, and I guess I got sucked into, so to speak, something that I found interesting.
I still have that feeling now about DH.
Here's something you might or might not find interesting, but here it is anyway:
Before I first heard him sing in Spanish, I remember Nancy Dussault saying DH was going to sing in espanol(Spanish), so my first reaction was, "He's going to do WHAT?!?!?!?!?!?!" and after I'd heard him sing very beautifully in Spanish for the first time, I was totally floored, and I was touched to the core of my soul.
This was 19 years ago, and whenever I hear DH sing in a foreign language, I still get that feeling.
I have a liking for foreign languages, and DH captures the beauty of the languages like an artist does to a painting, and it just blows me away, how he does something so beautiful by singing in foreign languages.
That's going to be something I'll always cherish about D. Hasselhoff.

[FuzzieDice]

That's awesome how you treat your car! I took a peek at all of the pictures on Cardomain and have to say that it's a nice Pontiac! It's nearly vintage, I might add, and I appreciate the fact that you do keep your engine bay in nice shape too.

I have personally worked with a friend, Candy, who has fibromyalgia and have learned a great deal from her. I think that the qualities that are most needed for famiy members having these kinds of special abilities are compassion and understanding; otherwise, the resulting ignorance can breed intolerance.

Thank you for sharing that article and your "independence." I'm with you all the way!

Thank you. And Dryden says "thank you" too. Dryden will be 20 years old in March 1987. I hope to plan something special but not sure what exactly. Hopefully I can find a bit to reward his mechanics who also take very good care of him. When I got Dryden on June 2, 2000, I knew right off he was a special car. Something about him. Although he needed warranty repairs (ignition module, valve cover gasket, patched gas line, radiator hose, and the mechanics of my own had to fix his rotors - Dryden wasn't in great shape, but for $750 with tax/licensing included, that wasn't bad at all!). Much $$ went into fixing him up. And probably will need more. He leaks like a sieve and the inside gets rather wet in rainy season (I have to reseal him again with stuff I have and get the rubber stripping back on the driver side). But he's still my best friend.

I've got a car club at A-Body.Net for GM A-Body cars, and many have named their cars and take as good of care of theirs as I do Dryden. I'm also a member of Yahoo's 6000 Club (for Pontiac 6000s). Believe me, these cars are strong, long-lasting and very reliable. And we all help one another keep our cars that way.

I agree, Dryden is one nice Pontiac. But then I'm biased because he's all mine.

I do hope some day I might be able to get a T/A and do a KARR conversion. I always loved KARR as well as KITT and been one to do the not-so-common stuff. But with my income and all, and now school expenses, there's no money for a 2nd car, let alone a conversion! Maybe some day. Though I have to make sure Dryden doesn't get jealous (oh yes, many of us can tell stories about jealous cars not wanting to start, or sputtering in protest! )

At A-Body you can meet folks with cars like Spankey (a Pontiac 6000 STE All-Wheel-Drive), Shake-N-Bake (An Olds Cutlass Cierra), Duke George the IV I think he is - that's another Pontiac 6000 (has an Iron Duke engine).

Here at home Dryden shares the parking lot with Kitt (a Mitsubishi Eclipse who got his name when my neighbor triggered the remote starter inside and two other neighbors nearly jumped out of their skinks as we were near the car talking ) an Scooby, a Chevy SUV my next-door neighbor has. He got his name because she has a Scooby-Doo air freshener in him. Dryden has Fuzzy Dice, a Victory Lane pine tree and a strawberry.

Kitt can even beep his horn at the owner's remote control, and uses that to call the dog. And yes, the dog comes running over to the car right away! Wonder who's got who trained! Kitt can't drive by himself, talk or open doors and windows remotely though. But cute nonetheless.

Ok, I better shut up. See what happens when you get me talking about cars - especially MINE?

[LuvKITT]

I do hope some day I might be able to get a T/A and do a KARR conversion. I always loved KARR as well as KITT and been one to do the not-so-common stuff. But with my income and all, and now school expenses, there's no money for a 2nd car, let alone a conversion! Maybe some day. Though I have to make sure Dryden doesn't get jealous (oh yes, many of us can tell stories about jealous cars not wanting to start, or sputtering in protest! )

LOL...I have a 95 Grand Am, Bluebell, and when I got my 86 TA, who is KITT to me but has no KITT parts yet, my Grand Am had a fit. She got very jealous and had to have $400 worth of work a month after I got my KITT. Other people laugh about KITT conversion ower's daily drivers being jealous, but it is pretty much true as I have found out...hehe. Ok enough of me taking over the thread.

Thanks for the kind works Paul, they mean a lot.

[FuzzieDice]

Julie - I've heard of the same things. Which is why right now, I only have Dryden. I remember in the spring I was thinking about getting KARR and saw a possible donor on eBay. Dryden "decided" he needed work not too long after that. Even though he KNEW I wasn't going to get the car after all. LOL!

[Making_Waves_of_my_Own]

The real reason why I motivate students is that it saddens me to see all the hate, violence, shootings, drug abuse, and other tragedies that have befallen our generation. I am simply trying to use my talent of "storytelling" in a positive, constructive way to change many potential (and, as yet, unwritten) futures. I have been given this disability, cerebral palsy, so that I can first have a unique perspective from a person who faces challenging odds, and I would then have a chance to share this positivity with other people. (That's right, my programs are funny and insightful, not sad and depressing!) It has also given me an opportunity to enlighten others, both students and adults, to think positive and actively demonstrate that you care about your community in a positive, meaningful way. More specifically, the young audiences in front of me represent our country's own future, and I am simply trying to make sure their future is better than the world in which we live.

In my head, as the final hour of Knight Rider closes, I can still vividly picture the humorous closing screen fading out to a shot of Michael and KITT driving down a lonely desert road. The camera then backs away, revealing the large desert landscape with the road towards the horizon. KITT continues on the road as the camera widens even further, a scene that emphasizes the "loneliness." The voice over then says, "Michael Knight ... a lone crusader in a dangerous world ... the world of the Knight Rider." with a few notes played at the end. An inspiring scene that has always captivated me! It was a perfect ending to an inspirational hour.

Yes, Paul, one man CAN make a difference. We're Making Waves together.

[FuzzieDice]

Sometimes one needs inspiration and tales of different places, examples of how to overcome or fight back in order to be inspired to go on and try to get into a better environment. But I know all too well for some, people are trapped in bad places and have no way to leave.

I just wish there was a real Foundation for Law and Government or something similar like the one in Knight Rider that helped people like on the show. In fact, it'd be nice if it were a reality show (well, as much as I hate reality shows but this I'd make an exception) and have a real AI car and all that.

That would be so cool!

But at least we have dreams. Maybe one of us or one of the kids will some day make it happen.

As they say here in NY - "Hey, you never know..."

[Making_Waves_of_my_Own]

Yes, I agree with you that sometimes we do need to get out of our environments, because they can be detrimental to our personality and mental health. I mean, if you were surrounded by positive people who are smiling, or at least try to share their company while ignoring those who have relatively negative attitudes, then you do realize that smiles can be quite contagious. However, if you are surrounded by relatively negative (or snooty) people who don't appreciate what they do have even if it's right under their noses, then you need to find some way to escape their reality and find a better one for you.

That's apparently what DH and KR apparently did for you -- providing that virtual escape as Michael Knight offered you (the viewer) to tag along for an awesome, unexpected ride every week. I use the word, unexpected, here to refer to the show at 30 minutes into the hour, where Michael is held at gunpoint, or KITT is immobile, and then the segment freezes as the commercials come on. We need to wait a few minutes to find out how our heroes get out of the predicament that they find themselves in. That's what I mean by "unexpected," keeps you on the edge of your seat.

A real Foundation for Law and Government? That would be nice but would it be realistic? Maybe it could be, if we suspend reality to imagine Michael Knight as a teacher teaching a boisterous class of students and showing them, by example, that it is perfectly OK to be different. Then maybe the people in Nat's former town would realize they were wrong to not be more accepting of her, or maybe those in Lyn's town would come over to give her strength to triumph over her health concerns. I mean, if we really TRY to go out of our way to help one another, we essentially create our "own" Foundation -- not a building per se but a piece of our hearts.

I think that each small gesture that we do each day is a small yet important to reach a goal of creating a better, more accepting community. That's exactly how I interpret the title of David's memoirs!

[DavidHFanNatalie]

Yes, David and Knight Rider were great positive subjects to focus on during those difficult times. I'm glad that I had David's shows to watch each week and his music to cheer me up when I was feeling down. I'm glad I never "followed the crowd" in that little town by getting myself into trouble like a lot kids did then. There were some drugs users around and even though I got asked about that at times, I always stood my ground firm about it, NO WAY TO DRUGS! All I can say is I'm so glad I didn't have to live there any longer than 3 and a half years and it's so good to be back home where I belong!

I agree that we can make a difference in other people's lives by going out of our way to do something nice for someone each chance we get. It's a great feeling to help make a difference in someone's life!
Nat

[Lyn]

Positive role models are too few and far between these days for teens and those struggling with health issues, so I'm glad I came upon DH and "Knight Rider" while growing up in TN., and I hope today's teens can find it in themselves to see what's real and what's fake in their lives these days.
I feel fortunate to be a fan of D. Hasselhoff, who really does give a damn about those who work hard to achieve something really substantial in their lives and not something so frivolous, as seen in his book and Paul's own insights.

[FuzzieDice]

Paul, you hit the nail on the head. Well said.