Nancy Mairs "On Being a Cripple"

Reading Reflection #1
In her respective narrative, “On Being a Cripple", Nancy Mairs tells of her battles with a degenerative neurological disorder and the struggles she deals with on a day to day basis. Mairs defines the positive attitudes she must maintain in her life but also the depressing aspects of dealing with having Multiple Sclerosis. In the beginning passages, she talks about the stigma that comes along with having a disease and negative connotations it has. Mairs then moves on to tell about her life growing up symptom free, to the onset of her illness in her graduate school years. Multiple Sclerosis has some very horrifying symptoms and she conveys in her essay the constant power struggle of positive and negative thoughts when she deals with the effects of the disease.
Reading this article by Nancy Mairs brought up some provoking and personal thoughts. First off, It made me think of two friends of mine that both have MS. It was rather hard for me to read this account of her struggles with the disease, because it makes it somewhat too “real” of a disease that I try to not think about. I think that I like to focus more on the fact that I have my friends with me now to enjoy time with that are more or less symptom free. This, I believe also helps them cope, not focusing so much on what is going to happen in the future but on living life today. We don’t talk all that often about the disease my friends have, but when we do, I consistently admire them for their positive attitudes and outlook on life.
This article also made me think about all the small abilities that we so often take for granted. Things like simply going for an evening jog (that I very often pass up to watch tv), having good hearing, being able to speak well, or being able to merely get out of bed. These are things that we so often overlook and believe that losing these gifts is something that “will never happen to me”. The truth is when we look at those who are close to us, our family, friends, collogues, and associates, we see struggles that many of us often overlook that is debilitating for them. I have some of my own issues that can be debilitating at times, and I have the support of my friends and family to help me when I get in a funk. In the same sense, it is very important to be there for them as well.
This support system that I have with my friends and family, and they have with me, I think needs to be extended out into the community more. We all know someone out there who has been burdened with some type of disease or flaw and maybe shuts themselves away without much social interaction out of fear of embarrassment, shame, rejection, or sadness. Let’s start being more aware of these situations that occur so often, yet are more often overlooked and focus on bringing hope and a positive attitude to an otherwise negative situation. We need to learn from my friends and Nancy Mairs so to not focus of what might happen and focus on today. Afterall, those rose colored spectacles aren't always so bad.