The other evening, I was watching a program that featured a young high school student who played football for his school. I guess he had success. Unfortunately, he was injured in a freak accident that occurs all to often in football, he broke his neck at the fifth vertebrae!
The young man and his mother both appeared on the show, and the host inquired about their feelings about everything. The boy was in a brace, and except for the neck, was able to walk, and do everything anyone else could if they were healthy.
The host inquired as to how both the mother and boy felt about the injury.
The boy spoke first, saying he would never be able to play football again, then started to sob inaudibly, while the mother burst out and sobbed, reiterating what the boy said.
Help me here. I seemed to have lost something in the empathy department! If I were the parent of such a child, I would be jumping for joy, that the kid is
1.) ALIVE
2.) ABLE TO WALK
3.) WILL LEAD A NORMAL LIFE.
Maybe my sense of values is warped, but all he’s missing is football. Not his life or limb were harmed or sacrificed. I don’t mean to criticize, but does it make any sense, when you sneak past disaster, you celebrate, not sob?
I look at my brother-in-law, the Polish kid from Manhattan, and his problems, and I think: “Let’s celebrate that he is fighting. I see my daughter Ellen and the world she lives in, a world I cannot imagine being in, the lost dream we had for her, and I want to thank God, she is still with us. How can you equate football with life or limb?
I see the blind, the deaf, the mentally disabled and the mentally disturbed, all living their own hell, and football becomes just a mere diversion, not anything but.
As a teenager, if he loves football so much could dedicate his life to helping those who were crippled by the sport, or coaching kids in how to play it, or just finding another career that will pay dividends for society as a whole.
Maybe I’m just silly.
Please pray for my brother-in-law John, the Polish prince of golf, and all those that need our hopes and prayers.
5 comments:
JO-JO--YOU ARE SO RIGHT; I COULD NOT HAVE SAID IT BETTER!! IF WE COULD ALL GET OUT OF THIS "ME" WORLD, JUST THINK HOW BEAUTIFUL LIFE COULD BE!!! LOVE, YOUR YOUNGER SISTER
AMEN!!
Love from your much much younger sister than the both of you...Mary Ann
They say you don't find out what you're made of until adversity hits you between the eyes. Hopefully, in time, the young man and his mother will see it's not the end of the world and get on with their lives. I tip my cap to those who deal with adversity every day and just keep on truckin'.
Oh Joe, i can relate to your feelings 1000 percent! I get so upset - a combination of anger and disgust - when people moan and groan about the "terrible tragedies" that plague their children. Yes, not being able to play football is a disapointment, but it is NOT a hardship, a life-altering challenge, or a tragedy in any way. Thank God he is alive and can walk. They should trade places with someone who has a true disability for a day adn then they'll see they are whining about nuthin. I could go on and on, but your understand!
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