That ‘Journey’ Looks Like Someone Running Away

Your cover story “The Incredible Journey” (by Robert Salladay, Jan. 23) initially appealed to me because I occasionally want to run away from it all. However, by the end of the story I felt sick. What a coward Franz Wisner appears to be.

I was raised on food stamps and welfare with four sisters and a single mother who commuted 50 miles each way to earn her English degree and teaching credential. She did not quit. She got us off of welfare.

I put myself through college and overcame labels such as “hyper” and “retard” and the demon of alcohol. I’ve been fired. I have a home worth $700,000-plus and could have sold it and run when my wife of 13 years wanted a divorce and the company I was working for ran out of money and stopped paying me. Instead I suited up and showed up, every single day.

It takes courage to live life on life’s terms. This is how one builds character. Now I have two wonderful daughters and will celebrate 17 years of marriage this year. Wisner seems to have spent most of his time in denial.

Scott A. Hardy

Aliso Viejo