“When the world tests you and times get tough, remember you will get better.”
During a college football game, 18-year-old Chris Norton suffered a debilitating spinal cord injury. Doctors told him he had a 3% chance to ever move again.
He defied the odds.
Before a huge crowd of pork producers, Norton shared how his life changed in an instant. However, it was because of that accident that he found the greatest blessings of his life.
“We all get hit and knocked down by challenges,” Norton said. “It would have been easy for me to focus on misery. I had to instead focus on possibility.”
Norton’s message inspired and uplifted nearly the nearly 350 people in attendance for the banquet on March 5, kicking off the 2024 National Pork Industry Forum in Chicago. The audience hung on every word of his powerful keynote. Here are 10 points he made that are worth repeating.
1. A no-excuse life is taking command of what’s in our control. Our greatest strength isn’t physical, it’s mental.
2. What you pay the most attention to is what you see.
3. If you don’t like where you are, do something about it.
4. Ask yourself “What can I do today?” Focus on the goal now – not the enormity of it.
5. Words have great value. They can profoundly hurt or heal.
6. Being kind is a choice we make, regardless of circumstances.
7. Every day is an opportunity to make things right.
8. Most people have a lot of compassion – it just takes being vulnerable and asking for help to unlock it.
9. Asking for and receiving help allows us to go further faster.
10. Your life is as rich as the lives you enrich.
A Dose of Much-Needed Inspiration
For Morgan Wonderly, a California pork producer and vice president of the California Pork Producers Association, 2023 was undoubtedly a tough and trying time for pork producers. That’s why she says hearing Norton’s story was so inspiring and helpful in setting the tone for 2024.
“His motto ‘your life is as rich as the lives you enrich’ serves as a reminder that we, as producers, have to work together in order to succeed as an industry. His zeal for life is very contagious and great inspiration as we kicked off Pork Forum,” Wonderly says. “After all, like Chris said, “When we come together, we’ll change the world.’”
As the CEO of Minnesota Pork Board and the Minnesota Pork Producers Association, Jill Resler agrees that it’s been tough to keep spirits up in times like these.
“Amid some of the most challenging economic conditions in decades, Chris Norton provided America’s pig farmers with a powerful example of hope, grace, resiliency and grit,” Resler says. “While we can often get caught up in life’s challenges, perspective to keep us grounded in what truly matters is critical. Let us never forget our own value, the value of others, the nobility of pig farming and our purpose.”
Read More:
How Mouth Behavior Impacts Consumer Perception of Pork
What Are the Stakes if We Fail to Make Progress in Biosecurity?
