The world is in a funk. The news is depressing. Fear grips many. Sales of anti-depressants are up.

As I walk out of my door this afternoon to go skiing in the fresh powder that has graced the Rockies, I drop my skis onto the ground and begin to step into the bindings. The lift is only a few feet away. I look up and notice an extraordinary sight that stops me in mid-motion – the parked wheelchairs of a group of amputees who have gone skiing.

I take out my cell phone so that I can share with you the image that I saw here a few hours ago.

These positive thinkers – these owners of can-do attitudes – these examples for the rest of us – they aren’t whining, complaining or becoming victims of fear or anger – they are playing in two feet of fresh powder in one of the most beautiful places on earth – the Rocky Mountains of Colorado.

Yes there is a lot of pain around us all. But this beautiful image reminded me that a disadvantage can also be reframed as just another way to do something. As Rahm Emanuel, President-elect Obama’s White House Chief of Staff has said, “You don’t ever want a crisis to go to waste” it’s an opportunity to do important things that you would otherwise avoid.

Let’s not waste this crisis.