By Paula Day

Having no hands and arms could be an obstacle to hugging, driving a truck, playing a guitar. However, Tony Melendez has turned obstacle into opportunity through his life.

The 26-year-old Melendez was born without arms after his mother was prescribed the drug thalidomide during pregnancy. He made national news when he performed for Pope John Paul II in Los Angeles during the pontiff's 1987 visit to the United States. In Atlanta for a November 6 concert at St. John Neumann parish in Lilburn, he told his audience of approximately 500, "The pope can't even imagine what he's done for Tony Melendez -- for me and my brother."

Since that moment in September, 1987, when the pope jumped down from a platform and approached the armless guitarist, touching his legs and then reaching up, embracing and kissing him, Melendez' life has not been the same. He has been flooded with requests to perform, give interviews, appear on talk shows, travel abroad to give concerts. His older brother, Jose, became his manager to handle these requests.

Melendez' greatest obstacle is not his lack of arms and hands. In candid interaction with his concert audience he explained how he dresses himself, eats, hugs another person, drives his truck both through Los Angeles traffic and over mountain roads. His greatest obstacle comes from society and its expectations of lack of such. His message to the Lilburn audience: "Appreciate what you have -- 10 fingers, 10 toes, two eyes, and don't put your gifts under a bushel." Frequently he urged them to reach toward fulfilling their potential.

As a young teen Melendez joined a seminary program hoping to become a priest. "It was a dream that got shattered," he recalled, when he learned a priest must have thumb and index finger, essential for celebrating Mass and administering the sacraments.

"I wanted to minister," Melendez explained, "and music became a way of ministering, taking me into places where priests were allowed to go, as if I were a priest -- hospitals, prisons, convalescent homes, youth gatherings, retreats. I was playing during Mass. The hurt went away because I was ministering without a collar."

Moses, the prophet of the Old Testament who led the Israelites out of bondage in Egypt, is Tony Melendez' favorite Biblical personality. A little remembered fact about Moses, according to Melendez, is that he was a stutterer.

"I can see Moses the first time God told him 'I want you to speak and lead my people.' He probably said," -- Melendez stuttered the response -- " 'But Lord, I can't be your speaker. It will take a long time for them to understand me.'"

That Moses was able to overcome his handicap and become the great leader of the Israelites is proof for Tony Melendez that "if the Lord takes away something, He gives you something else."

Music has been a part of Melendez' life since childhood. His father and sister played the guitar. He sang in church choirs and school choruses. "I always loved singing -- always liked to hear others perform," he explained. His own playing of the guitar "just happened."

As is his custom, even in a secular setting, Melendez began the hour-and-a-half concert with a sung prayer he composed. Several times he had his audience standing, clapping, singing parts of choruses. Using his feet and legs as hands and arms, he pointed to select a questioner from the audience.

"I'm right-footed, and I talk with my feet like any good Italian," the Nicaraguan-born Melendez explained with an engaging smile.

He set the tone for the question period by first answering the uninhibited questions of youngsters who sat on the floor directly in front of him.

"How do you eat?"

"With my mouth. Steak is easy, spaghetti isn't."

"'How do I hug?' -- with my nect and shoulder. It's a gentle hug, but if you're on the floor and I can grab you with my legs, watch out!"

Melendez explained that his guitar is a traditional 12-stringed instrument. He uses open tuning, chording with one or two toes of the left foot, while playing the melody with the pick grasped between the first and second toes of his right foot. He composes his own music as well as performing that of other musicians.

He used this talent for composition to overcome what he called "one of the hardest obstacles -- one that was not expected." He composed the song, "Choices," as a gift for a girlfriend of five years who found his guitar and music had become her rival for his time and attention. "Something that faces the handicapped," Melendez explained, "is 'How can I make a living?' I couldn't support her (without using my musical talents) and I didn't want to live on Social Security." "Choices" was the way he told her that he had to choose his music.

"Tony, go on and do your music and give hope to all," was the message Melendez remembers from that "very, very blessed time in my life," when Pope John Paul II embraced him.

For Melendez, the selection he sang for the pope, "Never Be The Same," was appropriate. In the last seven to nine months he has been in 32 states, 60 cities and Japan. His concert at St. John Neumann was part of a "Celebrate and Challenge" weekend designed to help parishioners become aware of both the needs and the gifts of those with handicaps. Television executives who produced the special, "Bill," in which Mickey Rooney played a handicapped man, have approached the Melendez brothers about telling Tony's story into a made-for-television movie.

The brothers have incorporated their endeavor under the name Toe Jam Music. Twenty-five percent of money received from concerts and other activities is given to Mercy Corps International, a non-profit agency committed to helping the poor through emergency relief, self-help development projects and education.

Bette Lind, director of religious education at St. John Neumann, said the concert was "a very beautiful experience."

"He is so at peace with himself -- so content with what God has given him, as opposed to what he doesn't have. This really impressed me."