The most beautiful people we have known are those who have known defeat, known suffering, known struggle, known loss, and have found their way out of those depths. – Elisabeth Kubler-Ross
Disability: a physical or mental condition that limits a person’s movements, senses, or activities – The New Oxford American Dictionary
I believe that every human being, at some point and to some extent in life, encounters and suffers from a physical, mental, emotional, and/or spiritual disability.
The causes are numerous and varied, but they all have one thing in common – Fear and all of his Children.
This is the premise of my memoir, “I’m Afraid.”
The following poem from the memoir uncovered the emotions I tried to bury deep inside of me, especially Fear’s favorite child, Anger.
Inevitably, the internal pressure became too intense; a volcano of words erupted.
Disability
Disability is a loss.
A loss of a body,
A loss of a job,
A loss of a career.
A loss of things you always liked to do.
Like walking through the woods or around the lake,
Like driving a ball straight down the fairway
And joyfully chasing it in pursuit;
Like strolling on the beach hand-in-hand,
And especially like dancing,
And holding your wife.
Disability is anger.
Not anger with yourself or your wife,
Not anger with your family or friends,
Not anger with anyone living or dead.
It’s a confusing anger.
There is no one to blame.
It’s a floating anger that hovers
Like a cloud over your head,
And, without warning, descends and engulfs you
And holds you in its grip
And fills you with hate
And makes you want to kill.
Not mercifully, like with a gun,
But, slowly and painfully,
With a baseball bat.
So you can feel the thud
When the bat hits the flesh,
And hear the crunch of bone
When the bat strikes again.
This is the anger that comes with being Disabled.
This is an irrational anger
This is an unjustified anger
This is a blameless anger
This is an undeserved anger
This is my anger. – Excerpt from “I’m Afraid”
The horrific destruction and losses, especially of lives, caused by the hurricane, Harvey, prompted me to write this blog and choose this particular poem.
It illustrates what can happen when tragedy strikes and Hope is replaced by Fear.
Fear is strongest and most effective not when the tragedy occurs, but in its aftermath.
May love, laughter, and kindness be the constant companions of the victims of this disaster on the long journey ahead; may all of us human beings remember that, “It can never happen to me,” is no more than a myth.
I offer these thoughts for your consideration.
Communication, I believe, is the key to understanding one another.
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The saga continues in my next blog.
Do Not Be Afraid!!!