Depending on your perspective, what you're about to see is either truly uplifting or gravely depressing. What you're about to see is footage of Bryan Stow - the Giants fan, father and paramedic savagely beaten outside Dodger Stadium last March - speaking on camera for the first time since the assault.
Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
Speaking is progress. Progress is good. Progress is healing. There is absolutely no question that Bryan Stow is getting better. But he's getting better slowly, as is the standard course of action for these things, and he will get better only to a point. Just where that point is, it's impossible to predict, but listen to the report. Listen to the details, and listen to the doctors. As Ronnie Polidoro passes along:
Doctors say Bryan will be permanently “disabled” and expect that he will never be a paramedic again.
Bryan Stow's life will be a life of limitations and constant care, and while it's been remarkable to see him take some of the steps that he's taken, how far he's come only magnifies the gap between what he was and what he is. With every incremental sign of improvement, we are reminded again of the savagery of the attack that left Stow and Stow's family in this situation in the first place.
Hug somebody today. (Preferably someone you know.)