ADAPTING AND MODIFICATION:
Ever since I was five years old, I've had to learn to adapt everything. A childhood accident left me with limited use of my left hand and arm, and that arm much shorter that the right one. I had to modify riding a bicycle in order to hold the handlebars because my left arm and right arm weren't the same length. Because the doctor told my parents when I broke my arm that it would be amputated if I broke it again, out of fear my parents would not allow me to skate or do anything else that might cause another accident. When I pulled the training wheels off my bike in the first grade, there was a lot of angst. I grew up having to fight to do anything other kids did, including getting to stay over at a friend's house. My mother was convinced that I couldn't take care of myself without her.
I took some hits when I was a kid from people who saw me as "damaged." Even my mother made me wear long sleeves (I have a scar) because she said boys wouldn't like me if they knew something was "wrong" with me. All these actions made me feel insecure. I always thought I couldn't measure up to people who were without faults.
Now I'm 65 years old and I'm done with that rot. I've learned to adapt and modify everything that I can't do the usual way. It's made me stronger. It's made me resilient.
Because I grew up this way, I will stand up for ANYONE who is being bullied by anyone else. No one deserves to be treated with such a lack of dignity.
