Exhaust the Limits: The Life and Times of a Global Peacebuilder

"Chic is one of the most inspirational people I’ve met in my life. He’s a mate of mine. His whole life has been dedicated to trying to make a better world. Most of it has revolved around peace. When he was young, he was an Adonis. He was six foot two and represented the US in kayaking and was on one of the Olympic teams. He also played on his college football team. But he has had experiences all through his life that have shaped him. He was involved in peace negotiations in Colombia with various rebel groups there; he’s been instrumental in peace agreements between Eritrea and Ethiopia, and that’s just scratching the surface. One of the biggest experiences that shaped him was when he was in the college football team. This was in the 1950s, when they had the first black person join the team. The coach was against this, and so he humiliated and pushed the guy around; he allowed him to get pounded by his fellow players—and more. Chic never stood up for him; at least he didn’t think he did at the time, but in hindsight he actually did. Eventually the guy left the team. Chic always felt this was a massive injustice and from that, he moved into the civil rights movement, where he was really quite an instrumental player. Much later in life, he met the guy from the football team who said to Chic, ‘I would like to thank you for the support you showed me at the time.’ Later, one of his sons had kidney failure, so Chic donated one of his own kidneys to him. The medical system in the US almost sent him broke in doing so, but this guy has just worked to the limits to really try and create a better world, with massive self-sacrifice. The book is his life journey. Yes it is. It’s a good read."