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I was remembering the other day about my response when the Dr. people told me I had MS. First shock, (and then disbelief of course.) And next I decided I could beat it. This surely could not be happening to me! I will exercise more than anyone ever has. The P.T. program called for building up to 15 repetitions of each routine, and doing it faithfully three times a week. I determined to do it 5 times a week –all day long if necessary. I did for a while and my leg muscles became like steel. I would stretch my legs and the tendons really were rock hard. The bad news was that it was more difficult to walk each day and my left leg was impossible to lift and I kept falling down. Falling is no fun—and you can hurt yourself—(which also is not good for you!) My idea of making some muscles stronger, to take over for the muscles affected by MS wasn’t working out. I wasn’t Rocky Bliar! (Remember him? Rocky dreamed of playing pro football but got shot to doll rags in Vietnam. He exercised and worked out, with blood running out of his shoes, enduring terrible pain in the process. Rocky proved all the Dr. people wrong. I think he played linebacker for Pittsburg during the Golden years with Terry Bradshaw. A remarkable story. Readers Digest I think.)

I had to quit work shortly, take early retirement, and go on disability. Things were not working out. I sank lower and lower.

At one point I was so low I had to jump up to touch bottom! (Some of you know what I mean!)

Now, to get to the point. One day I was in a Department store, wobbling along on my Forearm crutches, and here comes a guy in a wheel chair, right at me. Now usually I avoided making eye contact with such a person. (I suppose we do that because we really do not know how to respond to disabled people.) This time however was to be different. We make eye contact and he has the biggest grin you ever did see. In his lap, in a way that he knew I could see, he gave me a thumbs up sign! We never spoke. That man has no idea how much he helped me that day. Here was a person, who was obviously far worse off than I was, and he was, cheerful and radiantly happy, giving me a thumbs up. He made my day and many, many more thereafter.

Most of us don’t have to look very far until we find someone worse off than we are. So right away we have things to be thankful for and something to do. Find another Lazarus and lift him up. When we were little we did not have a lot of things. We always had enough but never any extra for bicycles and roller skates and things like that. Whenever we complained to Dad about other kids having “stuff” that we didn’t he would tell us this little rhyme,” I cried because I had no shoes, and then I met a man who had no feet.”

We who are disabled need to count our blessings more than anyone. We, above all others, should know the value of what we have remaining. I’ve noticed that so many people who have a good mind and a sound body do drugs and alcohol and abuse themselves and even take their lives because they are unhappy about something. We who have lost so much see this as a tragic waste and can only pity them. They who have so much and see so little, who among us, that has lost their health, would not give all they possess for a good mind in a sound body?

We, the Lazarus’s of the world, need to help each other, to encourage, to lift up and support one another in any way we can. To not do so is to miss God’s purpose for our lives----and my friend, if we miss that we are truly disabled.

Enough for now,

Lazarus

Reach Howard by email to comment: hhux@comcast.net

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