I attended a church in Illinois where we had three handicapped members. Two were overcomers, one wanted to be pitied. The first one had no legs. He left his in Vietnam. That did not stop him. He was able to drive, was married and had two children. His wife would take his wheelchair into the church for him. He took the steps himself. If there was snow on the ground he put a trash bag over torso so he wouldn't get wet and got into his van. The fact he had no legs was simply a challenge to overcome and he did it well.
The second member was mostly paralyzed, a condition he had had from birth.. He could move his hand enough to maneuver his wheelchair, but he could not feed himself, get in or out of the chair by himself, and could barely talk. He held down a full time job for the State Of Illinois doing graphics on computer, where he used a mouthpiece to punch the keys. Again his handicap did not stop him and he kept on going.
The third was a young man born with spina bifida. He was about 22 years old. He wanted everyone to feel sorry for him. A couple of times while taking a bath he intentionally scalded himself. That got him put in the hospital where he was, in his mind, center of attention. The last time that he did that he ended up getting more attention then he planned. He was placed in a mental hospital. I moved to Georgia before he got out of there so I am not sure if that helped him.
Sometimes we don't realize how good we have it. We complain about our little aches and pains, not realizing some would be happy to only have that. For almost 9 years I worked in a nursing home. I learned a lot from there, including an appreciation for the little things in life. I appreciate the fact that I can get up from sleeping and go to the bathroom by myself. Most of the residents where I worked couldn't do that. If you really stop to count your blessings, they are much more numerous than you realize.
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