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An Oregon man randomly selected a photo to capture what he thought "true bravery" represented following the announcement of ESPN's choice of Caitlyn Jenner to receive the ESPY Ashe Courage Award. He had no idea that the photo he selected had an ironic backstory that would lead to a second post on Facebook with an encouraging message.
Terry Coffey posted on Facebook Monday an image he found in a random search and wrote:
"As I see post after post about Bruce Jenner's transition to a woman, and I hear words like, bravery, heroism, and courage, just thought I'd remind all of us what real American courage, heroism, and bravery looks like!"
The post quickly went viral with hundreds of thousands of shares. Coffey indicated he was confused with the success of the post and decided to credit the photographer from the image.
In an ironic twist, Coffey learned that the photo was not of real men, but of posed dolls Mark Hogancamp had photgraphed as part of his post-traumatic stress disorder therapy following an assault 15 years ago.
Hogancamp was nearly beaten to death by five men because he was crossdressing. He now has serious brain injuries and uses photography of dolls in a World War II-era setting to aid in his recovery.
After learning about Hogancamp, Coffey posted a follow-up post on Facebook expressing his feelings on Hogancamp's story in an enlightened post:
"This is the photo I shared yesterday in the spirit of spotlighting "true bravery."
This photo that accompanied my words, was chosen from a quick image search. Just wanted something to fit my words. I wanted to find out who the photographer was, so I could credit his work.
In an ironic twist, I have discovered that the photo is part of a documentary created by a man who was beaten nearly to death outside of a bar in 2000. After spending 9 days in a coma, suffering severe brain damage and being unable to walk or talk for a year, he chose to try and cope with his pain from the tragic event, by creating a world of stories and characters and photos set in WWII. The image I chose, was one of those created for an upcoming documentary. Why was he nearly beaten to death by 5 strangers?
Because he was a cross-dresser.
I could have chosen one of hundreds of other photos. But I didn't, I chose this one. Do I think it was an accident? I don't.
What happened to this man was wrong, cruel, and unforgivable.
Hate helps nothing.
Love wounds no one.
and God heals all.
(and irony makes us think)"
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