Blind since the age of 2, motivational speaker, author and rock musician Craig MacFarlane shared his message of staying positive and not giving up on your dreams to students, faculty and community members in the Conference Center Lounge on Wednesday, Jan. 11.

      MacFarlane, who was brought in by the Dean of Students Office through their Voyages Leadership program, took time during his week long visit to Pensacola to encourage students at UWF.

      The blue-eyed man greeted members of the audience with jokes about a golf trip with Willie Nelson saying he was thankful for not having to look at him all day.

      It was in 1964, MacFarlane and his friends were playing in the backyard when he was hit in the left eye with a device used to light a welding torch known as a striker. 

      The striker caused him to lose sight in his left eye and soon after he lost sight in the right eye.

      Although MacFarlane was blind, his parents gave him encouragement that he could achieve anything he wanted. 

      "My parents instilled a 'can do' type spirit in me at a very young age," said MacFarlane. "There was no such word as can't that was ever spoken in our house; I was never excluded."

      Through the foundation that his parents helped build for him, MacFarlane was able to fuel success in his own personal confidence as well as the ability to excel in sports such as hockey, wrestling, golf, track and water and snow skiing earning him 136 medals, 103 of them being gold.

      "Athletics taught me so much more than simply winning and losing, but what it really taught me is that you're only as good as your last performance," said MacFarlane to a crowd of 60 people. "We can't spend a lot of time resting on our accomplishments of yesterday because good, bad or indifferent we can't change them anyway."

      Considering his blindness "just a minor inconvenience" Macfarlane has learned to excel not only as an athlete, but also as a musician and author. 

      MacFarlane has recorded two rock/pop cds and also published a book entitled "Innervision" in which former President George Bush wrote the foreward.

      Sharing his message with many sports teams, corporations and students across the nation, MacFarlane says he tries to encourage people to take their points of failure and frustration during the day and use them to fuel the success for the positive possibilities they can find in life. 

      Students who attended MacFarlane's speech learned how to apply his message to their life.

      "Being a president of an organization here on campus it deals with community service," said Alternative Spring Break President Brandi Wahl.  "It really gave me a better understanding of what kind of impact we make and what we can do to continue making an impact."

      MacFarlane whose message is that of PRIDE -perseverance, respect, individuality, desire and enthusiasm- giving people the encouragement to believe in themselves. 

      Although MacFarlane may have been told he could not achieve something because of his blindness, he did not give up and kept on pushing. 

       "Don't let people box or paint you into a corner by saying your not good enough, or not fast enough, or strong enough, or smart enough," said MacFarlane.  "If we were all gifted in the same way it would be an awful boring world to live in."

      Those who attended MacFarlane's speech found the encouragement to keep going each day with a positive attitude even when the going gets tough. 

      "I think the important part is about perseverance and just knowing that your going to face obstacles, but that there is always ways to go around them or go over them," said Executive Assistant to the Vice President for Student Affairs Tammy McGuckin. 

      MacFarlane has spoken to over 2,300 hundred schools in his 22 years of speaking leaving behind a legacy and encouraging people in all walks of life.

      "I think we can make a difference," said MacFarlane. "We can have an impact, and yes, collectively we can do more, but don't ever underestimate what you as an individual are capable of doing."

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