Lessons from a Crippled Woman

Every morning I sit out on my porch on the 2nd floor drinking coffee and welcoming the morning. This morning I saw a woman walking down the stairs across from me. She was taking one step at a time, stepping with one leg, bringing the other leg to that step, stepping with one leg again, and so on. She was obviously having trouble walking down the steps and perhaps was in pain.

As I watched her hobble down the steps, I began to feel sorry for her, to feel compassion toward her. She continued to hobble across the parking lot to her car, swaying side to side as she walked, not like a "normal" person would walk.

The compassion in my heart rose, and I said a little prayer for her. I began to feel lucky that I didn't have that severe of a walking problem, even though I do suffer from lower back and knee pain. Like the old saying goes, "I felt sad that I had no shoes until I saw a man with no feet".

Then for some reason it suddenly dawned on me... her disability is one everyone can see, and so it is easy for us to feel sorry for her. Also, by feeling sorry for her, it makes us feel lucky we aren't like her. So in a way, it separates us from her and makes us feel a little better than her.

But there are so many people whose disabilities we cannot see. In fact, I have figured out that all people have some sad tale to tell. Everyone we meet has had some tragedy in their lives. Everyone.

Everyone in fact has some sort of disability, often arising from the tragedy in their lives. I know people who are severely, chronically depressed. I know alcoholics or recovering alcoholics. I know homeless people. I know or know of people who have all kinds of disabilities or challenges in life we simply cannot see.

So here I was, feeling sorry for a crippled woman, realizing that I should probably feel that way for everyone I meet. Furthermore, I should feel compassion for, not feel sorry for people. And my feelings should not make me feel somehow separate from any other human being.

Think of someone in a wheelchair. When we meet them, do we talk to them (if we talk to them) as we would talk to a person not in a wheelchair? The tone in our voice is clearly apparent to that person in a wheelchair. Think of a homeless person. Do we avoid them, never even saying "hi"? Do we feel better than or separate from these people?

So from this one crippled woman I gained some self-knowledge. I learned something. We should feel compassion for every single person we meet. We should say a little prayer for every person we meet. We are all, in one way or another, crippled people. God bless us all, everyone.