Postscript: What's Really Important, We Take For Granted

As you may recall, I told you that I had injured my knee a few days ago. What I have discovered is that even a relatively minor injury to my knee has forced me to have to remember how to walk in a normal way . When the injury first occurred, I became afraid to put any pressure on my left leg, fearing that my leg would not support my weight. I started using the zombie stiff-legged walk that little children use when they first learn to walk.

Little by little, I regained enough confidence to be able to put one foot in front of the other and take short careful steps. It seemed like a great victory when I realized that I wasn't going to fall flat on my face if I did that. Then, I was willing to bend my left knee back a little each time I walked and take slightly longer steps. My gait began to look a little more normal with each step. My supervisor at work kindly lent me a cane he wasn't using at this time and it has made my recovery so much easier. Tonight I was even able to take my Yorkie out for his walk.

To most of you, for me to have been able to reach this point in the mending process probably doesn't seem like much of an accomplishment. But for me, these are giant strides. I am able to take back my life. I am not confined to a small apartment... to moving from the bed to the bathroom and back... to moving with difficulty to the kitchen to make a meal and back to the couch or the bed so that I can get off my leg. For a day or two, I couldn't even put on my own socks. Little by little, now, I am able to start living again.

I have gained an enormous amount of respect for those folks who cannot walk or who can do so only with great focus and effort... for people for whom normal mobility will never again be a possibility. These folks somehow come to terms with their limitations and simply get on with their lives anyway. In my eyes, this makes them absolutely amazing people who absolutely deserve our awe and respect.

The first group of people who come to mind are the many American soldiers who are returning from the Middle East with severe injuries to their limbs which have permanently altered their lives. These men and women are simply inspirational in that they do what they have to do to recover their mobility with dignity and commitment. They then return to the lives they left behind when they went to war and just move on.

Also, please consider Stephen William Hawking. He is currently considered one of the world's greatest theoretical physicists. He is confined to wheelchair and cannot even talk now, because a debilitating disease has taken even that capacity away from him. He communicates through a dedicated research assistant and also by using a sophisticated computer keyboard attached to his wheelchair. An onboard computer then transforms his input into an artificial voice. With all the physical challenges he has had to face, he has nevertheless managed to make a life for himself under the most difficult of circumstances.

What these amazing people have had to face... what they have had to endure make the minor trauma to my knee begin to seem like pretty small potatoes by comparison. I want you to know that something good has come out of this small mishap of mine. I will never again take my ability to walk or run or dance or do any of the other things I did before with my legs, for granted. I'm a lucky person. My knee will heal and in a couple of weeks my life will essentially be back to normal.

There are some people out there in the world for whom that will never again be the case. That is something that you and I need to always keep in mind.