Woke up this morning raring to go to write a post about some conquering life awesomeness, only to have my morning plans thrown into a tailspin as I browsed through the flood of hateful and ignorant comments regarding the outcome of last night’s election. The one that really struck me the hardest was from a person I had always considered a friend saying,
“If you can’t beat em’ join em’ today I officially become disabled… Send me my Check”
Now I know the bigger thing for me to do would’ve been to keep on scrolling, and pretend that I hadn’t read a thing, but you know after all the other terrible comments I had read this morning I decided that enough was enough, and wrote back to this person saying,
“Wow, isn't that a stupid thing to say… Wouldn't you just love to be disabled… Really, it's so much fun”
Only to be attacked by a flourish of comments saying,
“I’m too touchy”
“can’t take it”
“why don’t you just fall down and say your crippled”
“you and i could both draw checks, but we choose to work through the pain, can you imagine your combine office being your couch ALL day? me either. hahaha!!!”
“When you through a rock into a pack of dogs, the one you hit always barks the loudest.”
I kept my mouth shut and got more upset throughout the morning, honestly having my morning ruined as I watched these individuals laugh at me and my misfortune. Here they are laughing, poking fun of us who are forced to draw our measly check from the disability office, when there is nothing I’d rather do than be back working. If only they had half a clue.
As the day went on and I really took a step back to see why I was so bothered, I realized it had a lot to do with the overall disrespectful attitude of so many after this election. Yes, I know half the country doesn’t like who we elected, but when it comes right down to it we as a people all need to come together and try to support each other for the better good and respect our leader whether we agree with his policies or not. We need to take care of our wounded veterans, people suffering from debilitating injuries, and keep each other in check from abusing the systems that help those who need it so much. We need to work towards positive change and not belittle people for their minor differences of opinions and come together as a unified nation. Yes I know the disability system is broken, yes there are millions of people who abuse and take advantage of it. But to make light of these issues instead of trying to constructively solve them will do nothing more than dig us into an even deeper pit than we already are.
Lastly, as I really thought about this and how much my morning was disrupted I realized one very important thing:
Don’t let the stupid people in this world dictate how you feel.
I saw your posts and was really incensed at what those guys had to say. Super frustrating. So much of what people have posted throughout the campaign, election day, and now after, has been upsetting. So much hate and finger pointing. Aren’t we all in this together? Some of it has really gotten to me. Once when I was going through a rough patch with my boss, I had someone tell me ‘People find out they are wrong everyday, without you having to tell them, Maggie’. As much of a ‘no duh’ thing as that is, I’ve gone back to that so many times, and it has allowed me to let go of the stupid things (well, most of the time :)) And also some people are just plain dumb, and not worth me getting all worked up over it.
Thanks Maggie 🙂
I couldn’t agree with you more about this past election. It’s really been saddening to see all the awfulness that people have become. I totally get it that not everyone likes Obama or wants him in office, but when did America resort to the bickering, hair pulling, and downright bullying I remember so clearly from my elementary school days. Thought we are all adults here with cognitive brains willing to work together and compromise.
And to the lesson you learned about dealing with a tough boss… I’ll definitely store this in my bag of tricks and think of it next time somebody is being so awful. And you’re right why worry about getting upset over the stupid people. Let them enjoy their own miserable hateful existence.
So sorry you had such a foul start to the day, but you really are an inspiration. If these people really had to be disabled, they would spend their days wallowing in self pity and bringing down everyone around them. I’m glad your whole day wasn’t ruined – we have so few. Good for you!!!
Couldn’t agree with you more… every day we get to enjoy this life with wonderful people and all the beauty that surrounds us is so wonderful. Why let others who can see the sunshine in the beautiful day interrupt that. Thinking it’s time for a Governor’s lunch!
You’re a class act, Mike – stay on the high side. Just remember “Ignorance is cureable with education and training – stupid is forever.” I feel sorry for those who have such little minds that they can’t see past their fingertips. God bless you for your intellect, compassion and wisdom.
Thanks Rick! Still trying to figure out if that was ignorance or stupidity I dealt with earlier.
Ignorance is defined as: The condition of being uneducated, unaware, or uninformed. Lets just say these folks are quite ignorant for a lack of better terms. You are the strongest, brightest, most inspirational human being in my life and don’t ever let someone else’s lack of intelligence and self worth bring you down. XOXO
Thanks Julie :-). It never will again… that’s the beauty of what I learned within myself today. Love you and you are equally the most wonderful sister I could have ever hoped for.
Mike, if more people had your attitude, we most likely wouldn’t be where we are today. Here’s to hoping all the negative people will start using their energy in a more positive way. Hateful, ignorant people truly aren’t worth a minute of our time – there is too many great, wonderful and positive things to focus on. Hugs!
Hugs right back at ya! 🙂
Right on Mike!
🙂 thanks Renee!
So does this mean that the NObama sticker I bought for your van is a no go??? 🙂
Only if I can put an I HEART OBAMA sticker on the Blazer!
Wow,I’m so glad I found this site.I’m a C5 quad and your site is very informative.
Excellent! Hope you find all kinds of stuff on here that is helpful! If you have any ideas about what I should write about in the future please send them my way!
Could you mention how you found the site? Would be very helpful to know where people are coming from!
-Mike
I have a 26 year old brother who has been a quadriplegic for 3 years now. He used to be pretty positive and try to do things like going on trails in the woods and going outside, leaving the house. Now he doesn’t even get in his chair. Since he has moved back home and isn’t in a care facility where they get him out of bed regardless of if he wanted to or not.. he does nothing. He is really in a slump. I don’t know what I could do to get him to want to do stuff, and I can’t imagine what he goes through laying in bed allll day. Besides that my mom is the one who takes care of him and its hard for her to see him just give up pretty much. Is there anything that you know I could do for him?
Hey Robin,
Thanks for the message, and I wonder if there’s anything I can do to help?
I’m really concerned for your brother, and hope there is some way we could help get him more involved with life. Having an injury like this totally sucks, and even as positive as I try to maintain my life, gets me down sometimes thinking about what used to be, could’ve been, or any of that stuff. The important thing is to stay active and in the moment, thinking about what is and all the wonderfulness that is in this world around us.
I think the big thing is you guys really need to help get your brother out of bed and back into the world. If the care facility used to make him get into his chair, then do that yourselves and once he’s in the chair try like heck to find him something fun to do. I think if you try hard enough, and make him realize he’s going to get up so he might as well make the best of it, that in time he’ll find something in this incredible world that makes him want to be a part of it. He really just needs to get up and going… I know if I stayed in bed all day long day after day it would be enough to make me miserable as well.
We all need mental tools to get through a bad day. Maybe I can help by sharing one of mine. It’s not standard so will take time.
I have come to one opinion for organizations like Boy Scouts, churches, social groups, academia, health forums, and living things like bacteria, bugs, birds, elephants and people. They all consume what they like, digest what they need or can, and then defecate the debris left over.
All over eat most of the time, can’t digest all that’s consumed, and have either over or under active processes for the defecation act.
The debris is often physically evident like what worms leave on the ground after a rain, what dogs leave on the ground at church picnics, what politics generates for printed documents and on. One of these organisms is mankind itself as the social world. As individuals there is a portion of our bodies dedicated to this function. We seldom brag about it but always appreciate what it does for our overall health and attitude. Go forward to our larger social structures and there isn’t a well defined paths to accomplish the same needs.
However if you look carefully you can identify individuals in society that independently provide what’s needed. We normally look down on such people and have crafted titles for them closely tied to our personal physique. Have you ever thought what our society would be if we didn’t have them?
Today when such a person comes into my life I don’t smile or let my heart speed up but I do wish them good health and speed them on their way to do their task of being the sphincter they are. The world needs them so they are tolerable for a short time each day/year.
I hope some portion of this will help you understand how important they are for the total process and how little you should interfere as they perform their tasks on earth.
Don’t spend too much time thinking about it. You probably couldn’t do their job if you tried.
Wow, well said. Your message has left me sitting here smiling thinking about all the a-holes who drift around this world. Definitely not worth giving them a second thought, but like you said, in some crazy/obscure way they actually make this world a better place.
Came across your great site when looking for reviews of the SpeechWare USB 9-in-1 (just as an aside- is it what you use now? Pics of your computer set up seem to show something different.) As to this posting- I still; can’t get used to the tactics that are dogging our democracy. I had the nerve to confront an abuser of handicapped parking at my pharmacy a few months back and received a tirade against “protected classes” and a threat to run me down (in my power chair – I too am a quad).
On small thing -you wrote “Yes I know the disability system is broken, yes there are millions of people who abuse and take advantage of it.” Don’t be too eager to buy into the “millions of abusers.” Best evidence is it “ain’t so.” As I’m sure you know. Social Security Disability is surrounded by a moat filled with alligators, and SSI is worse;. The only place I see frequent abuse is in parking placards. State regs here in Jersey make them to easy to get and too easy to abuse. I think age and sex of the recipient, if not a photo ID, should be printed on the card- that way Great Gramama’s card doesn’t get handed down through the generations.
Disability rate seem also to have little to do with politics – data from 2009 (latest I could lay hands on) show my liberal, industrialized NJ has much lower rates than Maine. In fact, Kentucky, Mississippi and Missouri have some of the highest disability rates among 18-44 year olds.
Thanks for the message! Still using the SpeechWare 9-in-1 microphone, my opinion of it has probably diminished slightly over the several months of use. Still a great piece, but not the super microphone I had originally thought. As far as the pictures of my computer, those were taken before the SpeechWare, and show my set up using the buddy gooseneck microphone I used previously.
Maybe millions is a little bit over the top, maybe not, all I know is there are way too many people out there thinking the American disability is there ticket to an easy, work free life. Don’t get me wrong, I know there are plenty of legitimate situations out there where people truly need the help/assistance, but every day I hear about/see people either outright trying to game the system or not taking enough care of their body/life that they force themselves into disability.
Okay, probably ranting too much for my own good here 🙂
Mike! What an inspiration you are. You do tons more than me and I am not disabled in any way (I was an water-board member of a little town and saw lying, cheating, stealing and quit because I was disgusted and couldn’t make a difference – probably because I was so angry). You are a beautiful person in mind and body. Yes there are people out there who abuse the system (I have seen it), and yes there are people who have disrespected our President (whom I think is the greatest man alive and so want to apologize to him for some ignorant people), and there are people who are disrespecting you. Shame on them! I am going to have to keep reading your blog…maybe it will show me how I can be a better person, I know it has given me hope that not all people are bad.