| Usually, we are so busy these days trying to keep up | | | | Perhaps, there are a few cases where this could be |
| with work, school and family commitments that, we | | | | true, but what about the things we do not see, such as |
| seldom know or care about how the other half lives. | | | | the metal pins and screws hidden deep within the |
| To some, the other half represents our neighbors, | | | | spines, necks, or legs, of these individuals; not visible to |
| teachers, employer's etc. In a few short decades, we | | | | the human eye? I often wonder what would happen if |
| have gone from a nation of keeping up with the | | | | all of disabled America took their medical charts and |
| Jones's, to who cares about them. This way of thinking | | | | x-rays and posted them on t-shirts for everyone to |
| has helped desensitize us enough to make sure that | | | | read. It would definitely give people acting as the |
| we have also kicked aside and forgotten the leaders | | | | disability police something constructive to do while they |
| of our family.The elderly. They are our parents, | | | | are waiting impatiently in line at the grocery store |
| grandparents and mentors. The are the keepers of | | | | screaming at their unruly children or fighting with fellow |
| wisdom, the ones we go to whenever we are | | | | shoppers over parking spaces. |
| troubled OR worse... in trouble. | | | | Ok... agreed, watching our freshly baked donuts work |
| Whenever I lecture to audiences regarding the warning | | | | their way down a conveyor belt into our shopping |
| signs of caregiver abuse, I try to impress upon the | | | | bags can be stressful. But, is that really a good enough |
| audience how important it is for the elderly to teach us | | | | excuse to be rude whenever someone slower is |
| how to live. But, what about the disabled individuals we | | | | holding up the line ahead of us? Although society has |
| see on a regular basis across America? Almost daily, | | | | encouraged us to believe that we are all disconnected |
| we hear someone complaining about how long it takes | | | | from one another, in reality we are still brothers |
| them to complete small tasks. Try to imaging what it | | | | underneath the skin, under the hood of one supreme |
| would be like, if somehow we became disabled | | | | being and intertwined like an intricate wiring system. |
| overnight and were forced to live without an arm, or a | | | | The olny difference is we are made from different |
| leg. How easy would you handle the ridicule or the | | | | colors! |
| stares that many of the disabled have been forced to | | | | Caring takes place in many forms. Just as it takes a |
| endure. What would you say whenever someone | | | | village to raise children, it takes a community, a town |
| challenged you about using the handicapped spaces | | | | and a city to look out for the elderly and disabled. It is |
| and carts afforded them at Wal-Mart? If we listen | | | | up to each and everyone of us to take responsibility |
| closely, we can hear ourselves complaining how | | | | for each other by "paying it forward." Remember, we |
| disabled person(s) should exercise by "walking" instead | | | | are only an accident away from having to live our lives |
| of parking closer to the front doors of super-markets | | | | like the disabled individuals we often complain about! |
| and clothing stores. | | | | |