The Power beyond Disabilty

     It was in 1977 when polio disease hit my country, Philippines. Many of the infants and even the adults were affected with it. At 9 months old, I was not spared. I had undergone comatose for a week. When I woke up, my parents found out that my right arm never move while my left hand freely grasping in the air every time I cry. And it was not until two years old when my parents observed that my left leg went limp. I was one of the lucky few, the doc told my parents, because most of the babies in the hospital where I was confined were seriously affected. Their legs were totally paralyzed. One of them was my schoolmate in my elementary years. She went to school with a nanny to carry her everyday.
 
     Handicap, disable or whatever label that anyone feels comfortable to use would still brings one to visualize someone's inability to perform physically like normal people do. For a handicap like me, it was not an easy reality to face as it is. Like for instance, during my high school years, I wanted to join the sports especially basketball for women. I envied how players ran, passed the ball skillfully, jumped and shot it in the ring. And landed on their feet with poise and satisfaction. Wow! I couldn't do that without stumbling on the ground and wait for a helping hand to help me get up!
 
     I saw able people how lucky they are in their limitless physical abilities. Most of my early years, I used to watch with envy how they walked with poise, ran in full speed, climbed trees without second thoughts, jumped high with energy, carried heavy baggage as if it's part of their weight (my sis is skillful to that) and carried their bodies without difficulties.

     This ensued constant struggle and pain as I compared the differences between the able and me, making myself missed to discover the power beyond my handicap. Blinded with so much struggle of refusing to accept being a handicap had made my life miserable, inactive and even filled with anger.

     But then there were times when I just stopped struggling or refusing to accept being me. Maybe because I got bored struggling or just engrossed with some activities sometimes. Well, at some point in my life, I can find peace when I stop my non-acceptance. There I can able to find time painting and expressed my creativity in an amazing way. And sometimes wrote some poems and even short stories( stored in my shoebox before but now were sent to friends).

     Acceptance is the best way for me to get out from living a miserable, struggling life. I believe to accept to what it is can powerfully transform any handicapped into a unique able person. To accept what it is because it can not be otherwise is the only inner gesture of humility we can do towards life. Such inner humility opens the door within us to get in touch with our true power beyond physical disability. Only then we can find peace and joy of being regardless of external handicaps. There is peace because we put an end to our resistance that is responsible to create an unhappy view of life. There is joy because there is a state of peacefulness within.

     We may not celebrate each day for lacking of physical prowess, but at least there is a constant flow of inner peace, harmony that makes us express our natural talents and creativity, unique from others. That makes our handicaps amazing for those who have witnessed around us!