Will the good guys ever win in the war for human rights?
The thing that used to trouble me greatly was the eternal hypothetical question "Will the good guys ever win?". I would spend countless hours trying to make sense of what I thought was a great injustice. It perplexed me as to why there were some folk in the world who just seemed to breeze through life, all body parts in full working order, achieving their goals with relative ease and having a pretty smooth ride on the big life train overall. And these folk, who appear to not have a care in the world, concern themselves with incredible amounts of minutiae that makes them very whiney and they manage to cause themselves all sorts of unnecessary stress over rubbish that truly matters not. This is more commonly known as a storm in a teacup.
On the other end of the spectrum are folk who have more than their share of bumps, with not all parts in full working order and a heap of challenges that would seem insurmountable and an even bigger heap of discrimination, stigmatisation, marginalisation and suchlike. So, it wouldn't be too much of a mental leap to think that it would be the folks at the bumpy end who would be the ones complaining at every hurdle. Surely, gripes with merit are entitled to some whining airtime. But no. Oddly, that's just not how it works. These folk who don't have it handed to them on a silver platter do not have what I call the gluttony of entitlement. It is not that this results in folk who are less able or that it is replaced by an overzealous sense of gratitude a la Oliver Twist. It is replaced with a fighting spirit, fortitude, resolve and strength of character to be envied. The whiners would stumble at the first hurdle.
Why do I know all of this? Because, having just been to the CSUN conference in San Diego, which was attended by people with a wide range of impairments, I really, truly did not meet anyone who was disabled. And it was then that I had my epiphany. The reason why the whiners seem to have it so easy is because they aren't made of the strong stuff required: They don't live with the constant reminders and associated impetus to fight the good fight, so they get the unchallenging and unrewarding bits, whilst us lucky strong ones get the hurdles and challenges, but we also get fulfilment that brings a unique kind of joy, which you only get when you've won a few battles along the way in the fight for human rights. So, until the Declaration of Human Rights has been fully realised, I am afraid that the good guys simply can't win just now. If they did, there would be no one left to win the war!
About Sandi
Businesswoman Sandi Wassmer registered blind in 2008. In her blog, she shares with us the 'shenanigans of visual impairment'.
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Comments
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Actually, we do complain, we sometimes even dare to whine. However, most of the time, it is called "advocacy" ;)
Posted by Catherine Roy, 26 March 2011 (1 year ago)
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Stop writing my book for me!! I'll steal your ideas...XXX
Posted by Dr.Evelyn Kallen, 30 March 2011 (1 year ago)
