Not only does he believe this but he
practices this, confessing that he sometimes gives money to people randomly on
the street or anonymously pays the check
for people he doesn’t know at restaurants.
Another pivotal moment in his life was
when he was ready to quit his legal education at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles.
At the time, he still hadn’t efficiently
learned Braille yet.
“Toward the end of my first year with
things being so rough as they were,” he
said. “I remember saying, that’s it. In spite
of all the support I had, I thought I had hit
my limit. So I wrote a letter to the Dean of
the Law School, Gerald McLaughlin, tell-
ing him I was going to disenroll myself,
that it was just too hard.”
On his way to deliver the letter, he ac-
cidentally encountered McLaughlin and
said he needed to talk to him.
“I’m glad that we came across each
other then,” McLaughlin said. “because
I know that you had a lot of trouble here
and I know it’s been really tough, but we
believe in you and we accepted you be-
cause we felt you had a lot of potential to
do it and as long as you stick with it you’re
going to do great. Now what was it that
Cantos didn’t know what to say and
suggested it wasn’t that important. Of
course, he ripped up that letter. He
learned a lesson that day, he said, that you
should never quit and that the greater the
struggle, the closer you are to the reward.
Seven years ago, Cantos extended his
good fortune to three blind triplets, Leo,
Nick and Steven, whom he adopted, who
are now 17 (see GoFundMe.com/Support-
Blind Triple). One of the first things he did
was teach them how to use their canes
better on a trip to the corner grocery. The
store clerk asked Cantos if they were his
sons, but before he could answer, Leo
said, “Yeah, that’s my dad.”
As Cantos remembers it, Leo said,
“Well, you take us places, you protect us,
you help us with our homework and make
“Whenever I hear them call me Dad,”
Cantos said, “it’s the highest compliment
to me. It’s impossible to describe how
Cantos is a masterful communicator
and inspirational speaker, having spoken
to thousands on the various occasions he
has been invited to speak. In addition to
his speaking engagements, he is an avid
user of social media and produces a series
of motivational videos called The Vision-
ary Series”—(see www.OllieCantos.com).
In them Cantos delivers unrehearsed
though carefully considered, upbeat hom-ilies. They are very informal and he might
be doing it while taking a walk outside,
in true multitasking fashion. He covers
such topics as appreciating the special
moments in our lives, why gratitude is
important, and how to turn failure into
success.
“Happiness should be in the journey
not the destination,” he said. “When peo-
ple stop growing they atrophy. We have to
strive for the next thing; the reason is for
the purpose of growth. We’re meant to be
happy and we’ll be happy if we grow.”
While Cantos is ever seeking success
and personal growth, he also seeks it for
others. Sometimes people ask him what
is his motivation in becoming successful,
if he is doing it to prove that someone
blind can do it. Not at all, he tells them.
He is just living out his life to its greatest
potential.
“We all should try to live our lives to
the optimal possible potential,” he said,
“and we should seek that for others.
There is more than enough success to go
around in the world, so we don’t have to
be envious. Others don’t have to fail for us
to succeed.”
Cantos confesses that he would like
to enter politics. His grandfather was a
Congressman in the government of the
Philippines, and since a child he has
wanted to be like his grandfather, and
be a Congressman. Though Cantos is a
Republican living in a heavily Democratic
district, he feels that his ability to collab-
orate with others, having worked for both
Republican and Democratic Presidents,
will be an asset to his candidacy.
“I will have to resign from my career
position in the federal government,” he
said, “but I feel like the time is almost
here.”
His buoyant, can-do attitude is sure to
attract many supporters and voters.
“Life is a series of metaphors,” he said.
“But if we imagine ourselves with different metaphors, soaring, flying, visualizing
ourselves as who we imagine and who we
want to be, then it already exists. Then
we can take action and it always works.
We can choose to live in a world that we
want.” ■
TOM CALARCO ( tomcalwriter@yahoo.com) based
in Loveland, Ohio, is a freelance writer and author of
seven books on the Underground Railroad.
Cantos (second from the
right) pictured with his three
adopted sons. “Whenever I
hear them call me Dad, it’s the
highest compliment to me. It’s
impossible to describe how
grateful I am that I get to be
their dad.”
