#1763
Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do,
do all to the glory of God.
1st Corinthians Chapter 10:31
This writer, Disabled Veteran, World traveler, does
not celebrate holidays or anniversaries. I do not remember birthdays, even of
my own family. Jesus told us to
remember him at his table, our lords table. I have a communion service every
day of my life…a small taste of bread and wine remembering what Jesus did for
me on Calgary bread for my healing (By his stripes we were healed Isa:53), wine
for the forgiveness of sin. I simply cannot get involved in the decadence of
the two great Christian celebrations, Christmas and Easter. They have become
holidays not “Holy Days”, I simply cannot get involved hypocrisy of national
memorials such as forth of July/Veterans day/Memorial Day. I know, without one
doubt, the indifference of our nation towards those who have served. Who do they think they are fooling, the
veteran’s admin/legislative leaders/the Media? They would be glad for all
veterans to commit suicide. It is so much cheaper, just a cheap coffin flag, to
bury a veteran to carry the expense of caring for one. The VA never even gave
this blind veteran a white cane.
I so remember that day, July 26, 1990 when Bush 41
signed the American with Disabilities Act. The country’s largest minority, over
20%, thought that they would finally get some assistance…in the marketplace of
ideas…the schoolhouse, the courthouse, even the church house.(How many disabled
people do you see at your church? How many at your place of entertainment? How
many at your restaurant?) Have you ever considered what it is like to need a
bathroom when you are in a wheelchair? Have you ever considered what it is like
to do any of the things that normal people do when you are blind? Have you ever considered what it is like to
seek employment, to make a living, when you have hearing/speech/physical
deformity (Skin, hair, amputee.)? We all want perfection. Some parents will
actually abort an imperfect baby. Often
it is the imperfect that needs and gives the most.
Uncle
Sam Underwood was, my Grandmother and her five sister’s only brother. He was dragged by a wild horse through some
woods as a small boy…never recovered. His parents put him at Dorothy Dick’s
Hospital where he spent his remaining days and died. Not one of his sisters visited him during his
long life. When he died the state notified one sister. They got together,
pooled their funds, and gave him a magnificent funeral and burial. Of course,
he knew nothing about it. With modern technology he would probably have had a
productive life. On the other side of the family, Aunt Lizzy Lucas, one of my
great grandfather’s 12 children, was unmarried, and a little peculiar with
social and health problems, was placed at Dorothy Dick’s because her siblings
wanted her large farm which her father,
my great Grandfather, had left her to ensure her security throughout her life.
She, too, died at Dorothy Dicks. In the bottomless ocean of technology which
marks our lives, she would probably had lived a very normal life, playing the
piano at her church guiding her many nieces and nephews.
Every family could talk about family members who, in
one way or another, were not as normal as desired.
The ADA, a legal statute which ensures decent
treatment to those of us who are not perfect, or as the world thinks, not
normal. We who are disabled have these rights to equal treatment in the store,
in the public square/parks/tax paid facilities.
There was a time when your fellow man, normal or
otherwise, was treated with decency/kindness simply because it was the
Christian thing to do. The Christian
Church, in fact most religious groups, are as indifferent and discriminatory as
any pagan or heathen civilization. The
prime rule of civilized behavior, Christian or otherwise, “Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men
should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets.” -Matthew 7:12. The
problem with the golden rule, the power broker/opinion molders, those with the
gold make the rules. I have brought ADA
malefactors to the attention US justice dept. ADA many times. The breaking of
the ADA so obvious always, without fail, the same letter back form ADA, “We are
not equipped to look into every problem. We advise you to get a lawyer.” Why
the ADA law at all if you must hire your own lawyer? There are most outrageous acts of ADA
maleficence, government offices. I once asked the local county manager if he
had read the ADA law. He said “no and I don’t intend to”. On the air, in writing, I have offered to
give $1000 to anyone who can prove that this blind, %100 disabled, veteran, has
ever received one benefit of my disability through a government agency, taxing
authority, civic club, or even a church.
Believe me, when I tell you, without fear of contradiction, most
government “do gooder” entities are just going through the motions. It makes them
feel good to talk of their benevolence.
C.S. Lewis the great English writer “Joy is a serious business”. Obviously no one gets joy from doing good
anymore whether law or not. “Kindness costs so little”. One would think that
people would get a joy from being kind whether there is a law or not. Sad but
true, the greatest purveyors of discrimination, conjurors of excuses family
members of the disabled. Those who are not disabled, the so called normal,
really believe that nothing bad will ever happen to them. Politicians,
physicians, and pastors actually believe that going through the motions of
legislation will actually correct bad behavior.
The creator of the world and everything in it will allow His own
particular vengeance. “Vengeance is
mine; I will repay, Sayeth the Lord” (Romans12:19)
Next to abortion
(destruction of the most innocent of life), next to child abuse, next to the
abuse of animals, next to the abuse of old people, I can think of nothing worse
than the abuse of the disabled. Most of the time, the worst abuse of the
disabled comes from government agencies.(your tax dollars at work).
This
writer matriculated at the university some years after the great Polio
epidemic. I still remember 2 of my professors both crippled from polio, walking
with two cane… Dr. Clayborn jones Zoology and DR. Cecil Johnson, History. The
two brilliant men, contributing so much to the future of North Carolina at the
nation’s oldest state university would never have chosen to live and die as a
cripples. Getting around was so difficult. My friend, Dr. John East, former U.S
Senator Professor at East Carolina University, when he was running for the
Senate said to me, realizing my disability, “The disabled life is hardly worth
living”. He was called a cripple on the floor of the US Senate by another
Senator. Dr. East replied to him “you are right I am a cripple”. On June 27th
1986 Dr. John Porter East committed suicide.
The worst thing ever said to me, a blind doctor, from a member of my
family, “Most folks would like to get that check you get every month.” AS IF
ANY AMOUNT OF MONEY COULD REPAY ME FOR MY LOSS!....the fact that I could not
see my parents before they were put in the ground, that I have never seen my
two grandsons, will never see my great granddaughter…a flower, good food, or a
newspaper. I have learned to walk by faith not sight (2 Corinthians 5:7). Most
of the world’s inhabitants sighted or not whether hearing, whether completely
normal, will live and die with what they have, not with what they do not have.
Life is far too short not to enjoy every minute of every day. In travelling the
world I have found that the poorest people are the happiest. In the Political
Correctness of our broken civilization we should learn early to do the best we
can with what we have, or what we have left.
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