When I was a kid, I wanted to grow up to be one of two things, as I recall. The first was an Olympic swimmer, a gold medalist. I blame this wholly on Mark Spitz and his incredible performance at the 1972 Munich Olympics. He won seven gold medals, which was a record at the time for the most gold medals won in a single Olympic Games.
The other thing I wanted to be was Dr. Doolittle. And I blame this solely on Rex Harrison. He played the good doctor in the 1967 film Dr. Doolittle.
Of course, I didn’t exactly meet either of those dreams. But in little ways, I did. I still swim like a fish. And. I talk to animals every single day.
At any rate. People are born with different gifts. We all have our strengths.
With that said, it reminds me of incredibly strong people, in many ways of strength. Which brings me to this story.
A kid named Joseph Greenstein was not strong in the physical sense.
He was born in 1893 in Suvalk, Poland. Little tiny Joseph was three months premature, and he weighed so little that doctors thought he wouldn’t live.
He had his fair share of health problems from that moment forward. Joseph fought asthma, frailty, and the prospect of tuberculosis, which had already taken his father. He struggled to survive.
But here is the thing. Somehow, something went the other way. This weak little boy grew into the legendary “Mighty Atom,” one of the strongest men who ever lived.
The big shift started when he sneaked into a circus to see the famed Russian strongman Champion Volkano.
He got caught for sneaking in and was beaten nearly to death by handlers. While Joseph staggered home, guess who he met on the way? None other than that Volkano guy himself.
Upon their meeting, the strongman saw something in little Joe. Volkano took him under his wing. He taught Joseph how to eat, train, and think like a strongman. And then? Two years later. Despite standing only 5’4″, Joseph had turned his frail body into a big bundle of muscles.
He wrestled under the name “Kid Greenstein” before immigrating to the United States. Once he got here, he worked rough jobs in oil fields and on docks.
Okay. Then there was this. While working there in Galveston, Texas, his toughness was tested when a jealous coworker. This coworker was obsessed with Joseph’s wife. And the guy shot Joseph point-blank between the eyes.
Miraculously, the bullet flattened on his forehead. He was alive and well. Strong Joe walked out of the hospital the same day. And because of that moment, his reputation was sealed.
The Mighty Atom had been born.
Joseph Greenstein’s feats defied imagination. This guy bit through nails and chains. He bent horseshoes against his head. And so much more.
But his strength wasn’t for show alone. He took on anti-Semites in the 1930s. Like up close and personal. He once fought twenty Nazi sympathizers single-handedly. He came out on top. He left most of them hospitalized. Also, during World War II, he raised money for war bonds and taught jiu-jitsu to police officers.
His show of strength lasted all his life. Well into his eighties, he was still bending iron and doing other such feats. His final performance came at Madison Square Garden at age 83, before he passed away in 1977.
The Mighty Atom proved that strength isn’t necessarily born into us. In many cases, it is brought forth through our own aspirations. May we always grow strong in our own good ways. All of us.
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“Strength does not come from physical capacity. It comes from an indomitable will.” — Mahatma Gandhi
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“The world breaks everyone, and afterward, some are strong at the broken places.” — Ernest Hemingway
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“Fall seven times and stand up eight.” — Japanese Proverb
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