All right, 8 minutes before the top of the hour, the lives of those affected by hurricane Katrina will never be the same, we know that. But our next guest says this can be an opportunity for a positive change. He knows.

Let's talk about that. With my minister yesterday, you know, you look at the tragedy, you feel for the people what they have gone through, but then you look at, the good that can come out of this. Aron Ralston is a rock climber, you are gonna remember because he was forced to cut off his own arm because he was trapped under a boulder on a mountain, and that's what he had to do to survive. His best-selling book is called "Between a Rock and a Hard Place", boy were ya. And you did just that, you turned what could have been an incredible tragedy in your life into something that really changed your life for the better.

It did, and I think the miracle that became a part of my life in those days, has brought me closer to my family, my friends, it's given me a greater understanding of the priorities of the relationships in my life, of the relationships that I have with myself and with my spirituality as well, and I think that in terms of what's going on in the Gulf Coast region, this is indeed an opportunity to come back to be better than ever. As I've seen what's happened to me in my life, I, I think there're direct parallels for people to take this, and, for especially the New Orleans area to come back even stronger and more vibrant than they were before. (Right.)

Well, one paral... for it, one parallel, pardon me,is the fact that you were stuck on the side of that mountain with just 22 ounces of water, you can identify with us those photos you didn't have any water, and you had two burritos.

Yeah, yeah. Well, certainly the depredations that you go through, that's the suffering that we have as a part of our lives. It's not something to necessarily be avoided but actually the opportunity for growth and development where we find our own strength. The times when we have to rely on what it is that we have inside of us, those relationships with our, with our, our the Creator, and the, in those, in those times, that's when I think we'll really find out what we were made of. (Absolutely)

And you had a choice, die or cut off your arm, and you said, I'm gonna live, I'm gonna cut off my own arm. (Yeah.)So when you go and talk to these people, it sounds like you are talking about something you're in the textbook somewhere.

Yeah, the personal experience definitely gives, it gives me the knowledge I know for a fact what it is that I value and how much that's worth to me in my life. That, for I, I think it comes back to understanding those priorities, what it is to value in your life and I guess knowing that and you have to believe in it, you have to keep hope alive and make a plan for a better tomorrow.

You've , but you've talked about cutting the arteries and this little tendons in go with a dull pocket knife step by step by step not cutting off the whole arm but step by step from artery to tendon, is that almost can transfer directly?

That stuff looks familiar, doesn't it?

Yeah.

……can transfer directly toward people who take little steps to get your house, get your family, get your clothes, (yeah, it's what you are gonna do) get your school.

… today if you think about what you are gonna do today is too much, is too big for you to think about, then think about what you are going to do in the next hour, and if that's too much you think about in the next few minutes.

Aron, (Yeah, thank you Aron.)how do you go from feeling that you are a victim, I mean these people have been, the victims of this storm, how do you go from in your mind saying "I'm a victim" to "I'm going to be a victor"?

That's, that's a great transition and that's taking responsibility for yourself in your situation and taking action. A lot of us where we face fear, uncertainty, fatigue, just a lack of motivation that we all have it within us to do a lot more than what we think can and it's using our courage to overcome that fatigue (Right.)(would you) and using our faith to overcome that uncertainty.

Would you, have you ever thought before this you could have done that?

I think if you've told me that, I would have, I'd have laughed, just as I think it's a lot of people react to my stories this I would have never been able to do that, but that’s the difference now I know that I could have, and that gives me a confidence of going forward. (Sure. Right.)Just this will become the foundation for a better future for the people down in the Gulf region.

Aron's fortune

Talk to Aron meet Aron by going to bed with F,the Barnes and Noble there Sept. 14. That will be 7:30. The books are now available on soft cover Between a Rock and a Hard Place, Aron Ralston, great meeting you.

Thanks for having me.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Inspirational. Coming up....