Looking Past Disabilities to See the Beauty Within

On evening when I was walking on the treadmill I watched a TLC show entitled "Being Terri." Apparently it was a re-run as it originally aired in 2003. I was enchanted by Terri Calvesbert because she had a remarkable personality and radiated happiness. It was easy to look past her so-called disfigurement, which was the result of being burned over 85% of her body. The fire in her home was activated because Terri's mother was careless with a cigarette; she also abandoned the family a couple weeks after the fire and hasn't seen nor spoken to her family since.

On the other hand, Terri's father, Paul, is amazing; he is so patient and the love he has for Terri is inspiring. Both of them touched me because they epitomized unconditional love.

I'll admit that I cried when I saw how terrified Terri was when approaching yet another surgery. That precious little girl will encounter pain for the rest of her life and then there are the discourteous reactions of people who come across her, or the people who say, "She would have been better off dead." Terri doesn't think so and her family feels sad when they hear such a thing; they implore people, "Just spend time with Terri and you will see how much she wants to live and how happy she is."

Unfortunately, a lot of people project what they think they would want for their own lives on people in situations that seem, to us, unbearable.

I remember hearing a disabled woman once say, "They're the ones that have a problem with the way I am, but I don't have a problem with my disability, so why should they?"

She's right, and people like her and Terri are the special ones; the kind of people we could learn from as well as emulate.

I remember a day some years ago when I was in line at a store and in front of me stood a couple with a son who appeared to have downs syndrome. He was smiling and laughing, without a care in the world. He spotted me, beamed, and came up to me and hugged me. I hugged him back. He was exceptional - one of the most beautiful people I've come across and I remember him when it's easy to forget most others.

It's never what people look like that stay with you, it's how they touch your heart and make you feel. That child made me feel loved and I have no doubt that being around Terri Calvesbert would make anyone feel happy; joy is in her spirit and passes to those around her.

So next time you encounter someone different, before feeling sorry for them or feeling uncomfortable in their presence, try and recognize their extraordinary gifts, and realize that perhaps their beauty is the kind that reaches out and stays with you.