“The spirit of a man is constructed out of his choices.” ~ Irvin D. Yalom
If you live in Lexington, or you’ve followed the outhouse since the beginning, then you likely remember Mamadou Savané (right), owner of Sav’s Grill and West African Cuisine near UK’s campus. You might also recall last year when he suffered a kitchen accident that burned a good portion of his body. His son, Bangaly (left), then only 18 and running the family’s adjacent business, Sav’s Chill, kept both businesses running until his father returned to work several months later. That would be a hard thing to do as a mature adult, let alone a teenager just out of school with dreams of becoming a pilot. Bangaly more than rose to the challenge, and incidentally, his piloting dreams are coming true.
Crystal Heis, Eric Weig, and I made our way to Sav’s for a delightful, and way overdue, lunch today. Crystal is how I met Sav, and this was the first time either of us had seen him since the accident. If I didn’t love the guy before, I surely do now. His love for his son is palpable. His sense of gratitude to the community of thousands who chipped in to help with medical bills was evident. His thankfulness for being alive was obvious, especially when he showed us pictures of his burns. I don’t often wince at such things, but they were jarring. He has healed incredibly well, and I think his joyous state of mind is partly responsible. His soul’s light is brighter than ever before, and he has imbued his son with this same spirit. There are good people in this world. Here be two of them.
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