Men You Should Know: Ray Vivier

Ray Vivier was finally buried this week. He perished in a fire set by arsonists after saving the lives of five people inside the house. He is most definitely a hero, but his story caught my attention, not because of how he lived, but because of the stark contrast between how he lived and how he will be remembered.

The media has been kind enough to respect this man’s memory by putting a positive spin on his life, however, if you read between the lines to see what was really going on, you can see that Vivier lived a rough life. Here’s a short excerpt from the AP article, but I invite you to read the whole thing.

Ray Vivier had been an adventurer, a Marine veteran who explored the country from South Carolina to Alaska, the father of five children.

The 61-year-old also was a man starting to get his life back together after living for years in a shanty beneath a Cleveland bridge. He had struggled with alcoholism, but by November he had a welding job, friends and a place to stay at a boarding house.

He rescued five people from that house when arsonists set it ablaze — but Vivier couldn’t save himself. He and three others died, and two people have been charged in their deaths. Vivier’s body, unclaimed and unidentified for weeks, seemed destined for an anonymous, modest burial.
-MSNBC

Although he served in the Marines, his two years of non-combat service imply that he was no war hero. The words “adventurer” and “explored” imply that he was a drifter. He was an alcoholic. He was homeless. He hadn’t seen his kids in 15 years. You can tell that his daughter was struggling for a compliment when she said, “I’m proud of the man he was becoming.”

That’s an honest response, but it hurt me to read that.

Ray’s Lesson

As I said before, Ray is absolutely a hero. He deserves to be buried among the heroes in Arlington, don’t let there be any mistaking that. I just want to do him the respect of being honest about who he was, because there’s a lesson here: It is never too late to make your life count.

Men do a lot of stupid stuff. If you’ve lived for any length of time, you’ve done some things you regret. Maybe a lot of things. The worst part about the past is that it can’t be undone. I imagine that Ray had a lot of regrets, but because of just one significant act of selflessness his mistakes have been eclipsed by his heroism.

You can’t change the past, but you can change your future, even if it’s just your few remaining minutes.

What Do You Think?

Do you know someone who is a great man in spite of their past? What can you do to use the rest of your life to be a great man? What do you need to change?