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Why Is It Always Someone Else?
Written by Ada on Saturday, May 9, 2009
Seriously. Life isn’t fair!
So there’s a story on the news about someone being paralyzed. Of course, my first thought is “Damn. Why wasn’t that me?” Then of course, I think “poor guy.” NOT poor guy because he now has to live with a disability. But poor guy rather, paralysis probably wasn’t in his life plan, and now he’s stuck with something he doesn’t want, or need.
And then there are us. Stuck too with something we don’t want or need – our perfectly able bodies.
I’m partner-less as we all know, so I don’t have to deal with someone chattering on about this kind of “tragedy” tucking into bed or over breakfast. However, there are some in my circle, who will prattle on endlessly about this “tragedy” and the poor soul. I will want to scream at them “I NEED TO BE PARALYZED. WHY DIDN’T IT HAPPEN TO ME??” Of course, I’ll say positive things like “having a disability isn’t the end of the world. It’s just a different life. As full and fruitful and happy as any of ours.”
I really do wish science could find a way to implement a cosmic exchange program. I’ll take paraplegia and sacrifice, shall we say…. Well almost anything.
Until that day, I’ll continue to lament why it is not I that was in the freak crane accident, or pinned against a lamp post by an out of control taxi cab, or the gal whose chute didn’t open skydiving…
Damn.
Tags: paralyzed, Paraplegia, Tragedy
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12 Comments
Oh my word yes.
Because of my job I see video of car crashes multiple times a week. Without fail my first thought is “why can’t that happen to me?” Followed quickly by wondering where it was and is this an inherently more dangerous road. If so, can I get myself there regularly?
A couple times it’s been crashes on roads I take to get to work every day. Those are the worst. Why couldn’t it have happened when I was driving there?
Of course then I need to get myself to do my actual job and stop obsessing about the car crash.
i think about that ALL THE TIME because of the paraplegic girl at my school. lexi observed today (well i guess yesterday since it is not 3 in the morning) that she looked really miserable, like she totally hated her life. i can’t imagine what it would be like to not need paraplegia and get stuck with it. or perhaps i can?
i just thought i’d say this (i thought of it RIGHT AFTER i posted my other comment ><)… hearing about the girl at my school that became paraplegic (there was an article in the school paper that i read and now she’s back in school to finish up a few more credits to graduate with her class) was what really got me thinking that there might be something going on beyond an uncommon desire to learn everything possible about disabilities that i can, so i did an internet search which ultimately led to me finding this site…
5 On 10 May, 2009, Phil said:
I must admit that I don’t envy anybody for having an accident, pain, diseases and all that.
What I am dreaming of is that I wake up and I have two thigh stumps which look natural and are healed, and no pain.
@phil i’m not sure if anyone really *wants* the pain, but it’s just something we’d have to endure to get what we *do* need i think..
Speaking for myself I don’t ‘want’ the pain but I’ll take it if I get what I need with it.
I also think that going through rehab is an important part of becoming paraplegic though. If I ever get what I need by whatever means then I want to go through rehab.
If I could wave the magic wand, I’d take the entire package. Accident, pain, Stryker frame, frustration, tears, rehab.
There is a such thing as going to bed normal and waking up paralised.
I don’t know much about it. i just remember seeing it on 20/20 or 60 minutes one night.
There is also such a thing as getting pregnant and having the baby kick in the wrong spot and cause permenant paralysis. Doesn’t mean these methods are possible to plan for and achieve! I wish they were.
Like Chloe, I’d choose the accident, and rehab and everything that involves.
@Suzanne, you’re probably thinking of Transverse Myelitis.
@Beth, I recently saw an article on a woman whose epidural during birth went wrong and she ended up a paraplegic.
@Becs, I’ve seen articles like that before too. When I’m ready for babies I’ll be having epidurals for the births. That’s the plan anyway, I’m not going to shy away from that risk! Unfortunately there is nothing that I know of that I can do to make the risk larger.
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1 On 9 May, 2009, Chloe said:
This stuff always gets to me. The intense compassion for what the person is going to go through, physically and emotionally, before they are back to life being okay again. The intense jealousy because they get to have what I need so much. It is SO unfair.
I want to know every detail of the accidents. Maybe there’s some little clue hidden in there that would be the critical information in trying to reproduce it.
The skiing stories get to me the most. Plenty of people DO become paraplegic through skiing. It comes into my mind that they must be smarter than me, because they were able to figure out how to do it; yet I still can’t figure it out. Yeah, don’t bother pointing out what an illogical thought that is.
Like you say… Damn!