Reinterpretations
Oct. 19th, 2012 04:02 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kestrellYou may have already seen this story about the kid who, after losing a leg to bone cancer, was participating in a race when his prosthetic leg broke, and a nineteen-year-old Marine who was volunterring ran over, picked him up, and carried him tot he finish line
http://abcnews.go.com/US/florida-cancer-survivor-11-broken-prosthetic-crosses-finish/story?id=17446320#.UIG6sqB0Tng
At first, I dismissed this story as just another of the seemingly unending sentimental stories in which an able-bodied person is a hero for helping out a pathetic disabled person.
But then I reconsidered, because this year is all about breaking out of bad habits and improving the way I experience the world. So here are three things I really like about this story.
1. The Marine instinctively knew that, when a buddy falls, you pick him up and complete the mission. Wouldn't it be a cool thing if we all did that for each other?
2. When the kid said "Put me down," the Marine put the kid down. A lot of times, not helping in order that someone else can learn something or do something on his own is harder than quote helping unquote so that you can feel better about yourself.
3. The kid decided that he was going to finish this race and rethought allowing the Marine to assist him in attaining that goal. Sometimes it's difficult to let people help out, especially if you are a person with a disability, because there is this myth that able-bodied people are completely self-reliant and never need help with anything. Riiiiight. From the moment we wake up in the morning and turn on the lights, make coffee, and brush our teeth, we've already relied on about a thousand people for the electricity, the running water, and the waste disposal. We rely on the people who drive the buses and the trains, the kid who sells us coffee and a breakfast pastry, the folks at the factory who bottle our soda or water...how many people do we rely on in a single twenty-four hour period? A hundred, a thousand? Like the guy said, "Dude, no man is an island."
http://abcnews.go.com/US/florida-cancer-survivor-11-broken-prosthetic-crosses-finish/story?id=17446320#.UIG6sqB0Tng
At first, I dismissed this story as just another of the seemingly unending sentimental stories in which an able-bodied person is a hero for helping out a pathetic disabled person.
But then I reconsidered, because this year is all about breaking out of bad habits and improving the way I experience the world. So here are three things I really like about this story.
1. The Marine instinctively knew that, when a buddy falls, you pick him up and complete the mission. Wouldn't it be a cool thing if we all did that for each other?
2. When the kid said "Put me down," the Marine put the kid down. A lot of times, not helping in order that someone else can learn something or do something on his own is harder than quote helping unquote so that you can feel better about yourself.
3. The kid decided that he was going to finish this race and rethought allowing the Marine to assist him in attaining that goal. Sometimes it's difficult to let people help out, especially if you are a person with a disability, because there is this myth that able-bodied people are completely self-reliant and never need help with anything. Riiiiight. From the moment we wake up in the morning and turn on the lights, make coffee, and brush our teeth, we've already relied on about a thousand people for the electricity, the running water, and the waste disposal. We rely on the people who drive the buses and the trains, the kid who sells us coffee and a breakfast pastry, the folks at the factory who bottle our soda or water...how many people do we rely on in a single twenty-four hour period? A hundred, a thousand? Like the guy said, "Dude, no man is an island."
