Feet First

A Childhood Lesson Is Never Forgotten

Kluane National Park, Yukon. Photograph copyright: DAVID McMAHON

When I was very little, I had a friend who taught me two important life lessons. He wasn’t much older than me, maybe a year or two at most. He taught me the lessons not by his words, nor by his actions. He taught me the lessons simply by his presence, by his joy and by his laughter.

You see, he was in a wheelchair. I can’t remember how old I was when I asked why he was different and what had caused him to be in a wheelchair and how long it would be before he walked and ran like the rest of our friends.

That’s when I was told that he would never walk or run, and that he would always spend his life in a wheelchair.

He came to all my birthday parties. He had as much fun as all of us. Not once do I ever remember him complaining about his lack of mobility.

I can’t recall the last time we saw one another, because I moved on and went to a boarding school. But the two lessons I learned from were simple. First, that it’s all right to be different. And second, never to take the use of my own two legs for granted.

Visit TNChick's Photo Hunt. Today's theme: "Walking''.