Arlee man lives by mind-over-body mantra

ARLEE — David Salet, 32, is the first college graduate in his family. He has authored a novel. And he has held leadership and communications roles in several political campaigns.

With a degree in public administration and a minor in political science, he spends much of his time studying history, analyzing government policy and sharing his knowledge to help people understand the importance of functional government in people’s lives.

Salet sees his own life as a great demonstration of the benefit of a government that works to help people.

At age 10, living in Miami, he was hit by a car. He spent three months in the hospital and was in a coma for five weeks.

There were some areas of brain tissue damaged or lost due to lack of oxygen, and a spinal cord injury left him with the diagnosis of “incomplete quadriplegic,” meaning that though he could still feel his limbs, he would never again use them.

Massive medical bills meant that Salet’s family insurance had long since run out. Medicaid, a partnership between the federal and state governments, came to the rescue, just as the boy was waking up to face an entirely new reality.

The Medicaid program was Salet’s first introduction to “government that works,” he said. The second came when he re-entered school.

“The Miami-Dade school system provides their disabled students with an assistant who will follow you from class to class every day,” he said. “I was lucky enough to have really good assistants. They helped me get where I needed to be and do what I needed to do.”

With his school experience and the assistance his family received from Medicaid once his health insurance benefits were used up, Salet came to appreciate that there are government programs that work well and truly help people.

Though he felt despondent at first, he learned to function with his situation. His mother, Ivette, has been there through it all.

“When he first got hurt, he did go through a period of being upset, angry, maybe depressed. He was just giving up.” she said. “In high school, it started to hit him. ‘You can’t use the body. You gotta use the brain.’ Once he made up his mind, he took off. I was super proud of him.”

He claims he was “not the smartest kid” while in public school, but finished high school. It was in late high school and his first year of community college that he noticed something completely unexpected.

“I guess I bloomed. Things started to make sense to me,” he said.

He started to get better and better grades. To his astonishment, he found he could understand algebra for the first time in his life.”

“At first, his vocal cords were paralyzed, so he couldn’t talk. But he quickly started learning other ways to communicate with his eyes,” Ivette said. “Then he became able to do complex math in his head, because he couldn’t write it down.’”

Salet described the ability of the brain to form new pathways and create new connections and neurons in response to learning, or even after injury, a phenomenon known as neuroplasticity.

“I’m not using as much of my brain for my body anymore. I guess the intellect takes over. I think I was starting to use a little more brain power,” he said. “I realized I was getting an A in algebra and I’m like, ‘How am I doing this?’”

“You can change your brain,” he said. “If you want to become smarter or understand something better, it’s not that hard. People are capable of growing and adapting.”

He quoted author Amor Towles: “It is the business of times to change ... and it is the business of gentlemen to change with them.”

Salet transferred from community college to Florida International University, where he earned a degree in public administration.

“Since Medicaid saved my life, basically, I saw that the government can help people, and decided I wanted to do that. That’s why I studied government. And politics, because they go hand in hand.”

During his final year of college, a friend was recruited to run for state legislature.

“He had the political sensibility, and he knew that I knew my stuff, so we decided we needed to do this together.”

Salet was in charge of communications and policy, writing speeches, designing advertisements and more.

“He didn’t win, but it was a pretty fun introduction to electoral politics. I got a rush out of it.”

Salet started making connections. A self-described centrist, he became the communications chair for the Miami-Dade Hispanic Caucus, which led to working for another candidate for state office, again writing speeches and doing opposition research.

“That candidate won, which was a pretty big thrill.”

He remained active in politics.

“I loved the policy work.” But in 2018, the candidate he was working for was found to have a criminal history. “We dropped him two months before the election. He was going to lose anyway.”

Undeterred, Salet spent the next year writing a novel, “A Patriot’s Progress,” about a young man growing from a tumultuous youth to embrace a life of public service and meaningful purpose. “It’s basically a story of what my life might have been like if my first candidate had won,” he said.

Though he enjoyed politics, Salet found himself liking Miami less and less. When another friend mentioned Missoula, he looked into it. Quite soon, his mom sold her business, and together they moved to Arlee in 2020, a community they find as culturally and intellectually interesting as anywhere in Miami. His motorized wheelchair takes him on trails in the mountains he has quickly come to love.

Salet reads voraciously and writes prolifically, using a head-operated mouse for his computer. He continues to study history and government, and as the 2022 election season gets underway, it’s likely he’ll make himself useful to one candidate or another. But it’s the message of good government that he keeps coming back to.

“I just get angry with all the cynics saying the government doesn’t work. It can work. It has worked. When it’s not working, it’s because some people don’t want it to.”

“In this day and age, with all the technical advances that are out there, and with the political will to shore up the safety net,” Salet said, “a ‘disability’ doesn’t really have to be a disability.”