A SmiLe with So muCh meaNing
By Adeliza1220
@Adeliza1220 (877)
United States
July 26, 2008 4:47pm CST
I recently had a foot accident and have been rolling around in a wheel chair. We went to the fair last night and as I suspected there were many people in wheel chairs, and i found it bother some that there were alot of people who would stare at me and tried to look for my defect.Being in the wheel chair gave me a totally different point of view than when I walk. Space is very limited and the ride at times gets rather rough and since the wheel chair i had didn´t have wheels you could move yourself i had to depend on my aunt, which was not too great. I noticed there was no one else in a wheel chair but one other young lady and when I saw her from a distance she was looking down and looked very depressed, later on when we catched up and met face to face she gave me the biggest smile that had so much meaning, i just could not figure out why. My aunt later told me that the young lady had cerebral palsy. It just made me think that one shouldn´t complain over the little things that have a solution like weight and my foot, that one should appreciate what they have and be content with it instead of stressing yourself out when there are alot of people in worst situations who still have the courage to smile.Please feel free to comment anything in regards to the topic or if you have an experience to share please do.
2 people like this
4 responses
@momathome (474)
• Canada
26 Jul 08
That is so true. Everyone has problems. Some are big some are small. The littlest things can mean so much. I know when I don't feel that great a childs smile always makes me feel better. My 2 year old son always seems to know when something is wrong. It says don't worry or it's ok. even at 2 they know how to make you feel better.
@Adeliza1220 (877)
• United States
26 Jul 08
Well you are right in that sense as well my daughters smile always makes me feel better as well. Wow .. i wonder if my daughter will do the same by that age, i know that children are smarter than they appear and feel emotions..
1 person likes this
@sunshinelady (7609)
• United States
28 Jul 08
The people that have the worst situations in life as far as disabilities goes I have found most of them are the happiest people. They smile at a person for no other reason than it is you. I have known some people who were born with some pretty bad disabilities but they are the ones who would have me laughing and they loved it. A smile doesn't cost a dime but it is very effective. It brightens up anothers day.
1 person likes this
@Adeliza1220 (877)
• United States
28 Jul 08
Yes, indeed it did brighten my day and made me think twice about the things I usually complain about and how i should be content with what I have-
@tarachand (3895)
• India
28 Jul 08
We are an amalgamation of our own good and bad experiences and those of others that we have learnt through observation, by word of mouth and by reading, watching etc., The good things and the bad things are learnings that can either enrich us and make our lives better, or make our lives worse depending upon the perspective that one looks at each experience.
If the girl has had cerebral palsy all her life or for a very long time, maybe she was smiling at you because she wanted to make you feel better - a person who cant walk at all can probably empathize with someone who has lost that ability for a short while just a short time ago.
My take is over longer periods of time, people tend to take long term or permanent disabilities in their stride and learn to live with them. A temporary disability, however can be more frustrating for the person and the people living around that person, it breeds a sort of impatience for return of normality.
@Adeliza1220 (877)
• United States
28 Jul 08
Thank you for responding to my discussion and for going in depth on where stand on this topic and for givining me your view.
@Hatley (163781)
• Garden Grove, California
26 Jul 08
adeliza hi yes I have found that in spite of thinking I am
handicapped and feeling really sorry for myself as I have to
wear a built in brace on a heavy orthopedic boot, there
are tons of other peoplewith so much worse handicaps than mine that I felt ashamed for being down in the dumps.A child with
cerebal palsy in a wheelchair a blind man with his seeing eye dog, a woman with no legs, the list goes on and on,people
with big,big problems. I can still get around, and they
cannot.When these people can still smile Imust quit my pity
party and smile back as hard as I can.
1 person likes this
@Adeliza1220 (877)
• United States
27 Jul 08
THank you for sharing what you experience and what your thoughts are on the topic and for mentioning that you must smiling as hard as you can back at them, that is exactly what I did, I gave her the biggest smile.
1 person likes this
