ROGER AND ME

ROGER AND ME
WHAT HIS STRIKE STOLE AWAY
By MATTHEW LONG


December 5, 2006 -- IT'S been nearly a year now since the Transport Workers Union went on strike and changed my life forever.

I was known as a competitor before my accident, and I continue to be one as I fight against the odds to recover from my injuries - though some of them will only heal with God's will. For regaining strength and mobility, I'm putting every effort into getting my body back to normal.

The toughest part of my day is the morning, when I face the mental battle to continue to fight. I have to convince myself that it will get better - just get up and work hard.

This is not where I thought I'd be in life as I enter my 40s. The physical challenges seem to be so much easier than the mental ones; as expected, I have whole days that are filled with anger.

Most of the time, that anger is toward TWU head Roger Toussaint. When I read or hear him say the strike was his proudest moment, I think, Does this man even know I exist? And what has happened to me? Does he ever think about his decision to lead his membership out on strike and what it did to my life and the lives of thousands?

Toussaint's "proud moment" put an end to a very active lifestyle. I was taking my athletic lifestyle to an extreme. I'd started as a competitive basketball player who loved the game; then a desire to run the New York marathon wearing the FDNY colors grew into an addiction to being an endurance athlete, with goals of competing in Kona, Hawaii, at the Ironman World Championship.

Ironman triathletes are the ultimate. Not even 1 percent of the pros we watch compete in baseball, basketball, and football could do what I've done: a 2.4 mile swim, 112-mile bike ride and a full marathon . . . in one day . . . within 11 hours. I had just qualified for the Boston Marathon when the TWU took all that away from me.

The accident that occurred directly as a result of Toussaint's "proud decision" also ended a career that I loved - being a New York City firefighter.

Ironically, as a firefighter, I, too, ask for the Taylor Law to be reformed, so that the city and the people that keep it safe can fairly enter into negotiations and settle differences without compromising the well-being of the people we serve. I stand side by side with my brothers of the other municipal unions of the city, state, country and world.

But then there's Roger Toussaint and his demands for "respect." I earned my respect as a person, an athlete and a firefighter. He prints the word "respect" on a t-shirt and uses it as a campaign slogan, but his actions were a display of total disrespect for the law and the safety of everyday New Yorkers.

Does Toussaint realize, even now, that the everyday New Yorkers that depend on public transit most likely earn less than the $52,000 a year of the average TWU member? How does shutting the city down against the will of his own international union at the most congested time of the year deserve respect?

Please answer this, Mr. Toussaint: As the leader of 33,000-plus men and women, why didn't you come up with a better, safer course of action?

I can't turn back time, but I'll be damned if I am going to let the city forget what this so-called leader did on his "proudest moment" in time.

I am not too angry to know that accidents occur, that bad things can happen to good people - but it burns me that to this day this man has made no attempt to reach out to me. (He probably fears it would look like an admission of guilt.)

Bear Stearns - the company that, to get employees to work with the subways shut down, chartered the bus that hit me - reached out and gave blood in my name. The Rev. Floyd Flake reached out and visited my family in the hospital when I was at my worst.

If it were not for this ill-advised work stoppage, Bear Stearns would never have had to hire that bus. And I wouldn't have been on my bike commuting to work at that hour of the morning. So our two paths would never have crossed.

I pray every day that somehow my broken bones and torn flesh can, through my will and the grace of God, find recovery - or at least enough healing so that I can live a somewhat normal and productive life. Lately, I add a prayer as a postscript: that Roger Toussaint will see the light through the fog of power and politics and finds his conscience.

NEW YORK POST, December 5, 2006.



*I can't believe it's been almost a year already. I'm just happy that he's here to even write this article. Keep fighting, MATT.


NUFF SAID