I just re-discovered this blog entry I did during my internship days at Buffalo.com and thought the message was powerful enough to bring back...
Yesterday it really hit me that sometimes we just don’t realize how easy life can be for some of us. We never think about eating, drinking, talking… even moving. It all just seems so natural, something that we just do.
Well what happens when you lose the ability to do any of that? What do you do when the natural becomes almost impossible and turning your head ten degrees requires just about all your strength?
The reason that I bring all this up is because I was at a party Saturday and there was a man who had a stroke about a week ago. At first glimpse you could not really tell that anything was wrong, other than his right arm was in a mold/ block, which was actually holding his arm on his lap. As I sat there thinking about it, it made sense that the stroke may have affected the right side of his body, leaving his right arm temporarily out of order.
I was told that he could not speak as a result of the stoke as well, and soon realized that he struggled to even move his lips in smallest ways with each breath he took in.
While I ate my dinner just a few feet from him, I noticed many things that made my heart ache and some things that cured it.
The first moment that helped me to cherish my life was when the man’s wife lifted her wine glass to his lips and began to pour. From his eyes it seemed as if he was both enjoying the moment and remembering the old days. But then sadly everything changed; his eyes went from happy to agony as the wine trickled out of his mouth because he could not swallow.
A body function that we do countless times a day, this man struggled to perform.
As hard as it was for me to see that, it doesn’t compare to what happened later.
When dinnertime faded, the grand daughter of the man called over her five year old neighbor to meet her grandfather. Standing at the old man’s feet the little girl looked into his eyes while the introductions were made. To shy to say anything the little girl continued to look up and wait for him to say something.
But she didn’t know, and even if she did there is no way she would fully comprehend the current stage he was in.
The seconds felt like minutes and everything was getting more and more awkward. But just then the faintest “hey” fell from the old man’s lips making the small girl turn and smile like any kid would.
While I was astonished by the accomplishment, I could very easily tell that it took every ounce of that man’s will and power to get out even the smallest of words. The look on his face right before he spoke was empty, I saw nothing and expected nothing. It was the look after that said everything. He looked as if he had just run a mile in under four minutes for the first time, like he gave everything and left it all behind him.
Even though it was somewhat painful to watch, I was extremely happy that he was able to conjure up something for the girl.
With the rain falling in the background I continued to talk to people I had never met before, all the while gazing out of the corner of my eye at the old man and his grand daughter. She sat next to him holding his hand to let him know that she cared. All the while she told him stories and up dated him on things that were going on.
It may not seem strange that someone cares, but in the world we live in today, for a high school freshman to show this type of affection is quite rare. Because when you think about it, what teenager could care less about a party and more about a grandfather?
Its sad to say, but the world and its people are changing—maybe not for the better.
As the evening slowly faded into the night, my thoughts began to fade, until I had a flashback to the movie “The Diving Bell and the Butterfly”. It was then that I got scared and wondered what it would be like to be trapped inside your own body—with only your voiceless thoughts.
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And so, just because the world is heading in one direction does not mean we have to follow. Take the time to realize what you have: family, friends, a roof over your head, presents under a tree, clothes on your back, but most of remember the little things that we have been given, because you never know when they might be gone.
Also, people do have super powers—just not in the ways comic books depict.
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