He is poised as if in flight, the musculature aesthetically and fully exposed and straining, arms thrust forward, one leg mid-stride, the other flung far higher as if in a final kick to the finish of a long run. But this is not a photo finish of a famous athlete, or even an amateur runner in a national marathon. This is (was) an ordinary working man's body, an unconscious athlete.

The lights are deep blue, dim and reverential. The crowds flow through relentlessly, talking softly and gazing in awe. Another body carries a football, arm and shoulder flexed,at the ready or to adopt the stance of a baseball pitcher, the better to demonstrate the connections of muscle to tendon to joints and rotator cuffs. It is extraordinary.

The brain, beautifully revealed, supported by millions of human electronic cables emanating from within and upward from the completely visible spinal cord and neck tendons. We can only experience in sight part of the labyrinth of connectors that receive every internal and external stimuli and route them as commands to the brain. Medical science is still in its infancy in understanding what our bodies are really capable of

Ethereally striking, delicate and elusive as sea fans stirring under the waves, we see arteries, veins and capillaries such as those areas of the lungs that transport oxygen, filled out in brilliant turquoise blue, and deep magenta red. In one astounding image, a body exhibits only the entire arterial and capillary network, from head-to-toe.

The consequences of lifestyle choices are as repugnant as we imagine them to be. A perfectly formed healthy pink lung sits next to a distant cousin's twice-as-large completely black-cancer-ridden smoker's lung; a normal sized liver alongside a brownish-grey carcass of cirrhosis, unrecognisable as anything human; a brain, bleakly and blackly devastated by a stroke.

In the last display, the Body lies supine, the arms out stretched as if in welcome, one leg is crossed at the knee, the face is a blank mask. Up close, this is a full-size Body of skin ? only ? a shell of the beautiful creatures we all are.

Every body presented is unique in its own way, yet unhindered by skin covering, we see that we all share common characteristics, we are the same in our core being.

We are the human race: our bodies ARE so complex and amazing. Oh, what we can do with what we are given. What we can do if we believe in ourselves!

The United States celebrates Thanksgiving on the second to last Thursday of November every year.

Chris Gardner, the founder and chief executive officer of Gardner Rich & Company, a multimillion-dollar brokerage firm, has much to be thankful for. And he is fully grateful in his acknowledgements in his life story, "The Pursuit Of Happyness, published by Amistad, www.amistadbooks.com".

Now featured in a major motion picture starring Will Smith, this is his memoir of his almost overwhelming struggle to achieve: to use his personal power to raise his son while living on the streets in San Francisco; to learn a profession and become a successful stockbroker; and to overcome a past of circumstances that none of us would wish to experience. Mr. Gardner has several role models who believed in him, among them his mother, his grandfather and others. Using advice given long ago that no matter what challenges lay ahead, "go forward", he has become a role model and a mentor, a respected member of his community.

Every day in every way, we have the opportunity to use our personal power to achieve our dreams and reach financial independence. It is not about what how we dress, what we look like or where we come from. We are not skin deep; true success is derived from our core being. We are complex beings capable of extraordinary things, if only we can maintain the belief in ourselves. Be thankful, and go forward.

If you have travel, consider seeing "BODIES...The Exhibition." Excerpts below taken from the web site:

www.bodiestheexhibition.com

"With educational relevance for all ages through the sensitive presentation of actual whole-body specimens and individual organs, this awe-inspiring exhibition will reveal how your body works by exploring it from the inside-out.

Bodies... The Exhibition examines the intricacies and complexities that lie beneath your skin through the use of a unique polymer preservation process applied to real human bodies. You will leave with a greater understanding of your own physical makeup and with a deeper respect for the machine that gives you the power of life. Both fascinating and beautiful, this eye-opening exhibition that tells us the amazing story of ourselves with reverence and sensitivity, is an unforgettable experience and will change the way you view yourself forever."