fitnessprincess’s BodyBlog

You are a role model - whether or not you want to be and whether or not you know it.  Parents, friends, colleagues, teachers, and even people you don’t know are watching you - what you do, what you say, and the consistency between who and what you claim to be and what your actions say you really are.  Whether or not you choose to acknowledge it you are a walking, talking ambassador for our sport.  This lesson was brought home to me rather forcefully through the coverage that Albert Arroyo has received in the Boston Globe the last two days.  If you have not heard, Albert Arroyo allegedly took an accidental disability retirement and pension from the Boston City as a firefighter on March 21, 2008 claiming he was "permanently disabled" by a back injury.  Mr. Arroyo inspected buildings as a member of the Fire Prevention Division.  Subsequently, Mr. Arroyo competed in an INBF men’s bodybuilding competition on May 3, 2008, the 2008 Pro Natural American Championships, finishing eighth.  Wouldn’t you think Mr. Arroyo would know that people were watching him?  Wouldn’t you think that Mr. Arroyo would say to himself:  "hmmm.. I wonder what people will think if I compete in a national pro bodybuilding competition little more than a month after claiming to be permanently disabled?"  You would think this question might have crossed his mind because the Fire Department has been under fire (bad pun) recently for a series of questionable disability claims.  Apparently, the question never crossed Mr. Arroyo’s mind.

References

Robinson, Walter V.  Boston Globe 2008, July 14.  "On Injury Leave, Firefighter Stood Out as Bodybuilder."  See URL:  http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2008/07/14/on_injury_leave_firefighter_stood_out_as_bod
ybuilder/
Drake, John C.  Boston Globe 2008, July 15, B1.  "Mayor Urges Disability Pension Denial."  See URL:  http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2008/07/15/mayor_urges_disability_pension_denial/

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 15th, 2008 at 5:39 pm and is filed under Training, Other. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.