A Man Who Cannot Walk by Himself E.M. Doshisha International Jr/Sr High School, Kyoto, Japan

Today, I met a man who my mother takes care of during the day as a home-helper. He has a disorder called muscular dystrophy. I looked that word up in the dictionary, and it said that it is a disorder in which the atrophy and lethargy of muscle progresses gradually. It also said that it would make people unable to walk or exercise, and at last, will lead to death. Because he cannot do what he was able to do a few days before, he can't live without knowing his remaining life. This disorder shows up only in male children when they are around three years old. The man I met was twenty years old, and was only able to move the muscles of his face and fingers. It took over ten minutes for him just to sit on his chair and get ready to play video games. While my mother was doing all the work, he ordered her to fix every small detail so that he could feel comfortable. He is able to consider and imagine, however he is unable to express it in action. If I were he, I might give up on living. But in his case, it was his disorder that made him strong. He has been fighting against his disorder since he was three years old. However, he was very optimistic and smiled at me a lot. He was able to run till he was five. He was able to walk by himself until he was in the third grade of elementary school. He was not able to go to the high school he desired because he was handicapped and the school refused him. It was impracticable for him to go to the university he desired because he needed his mother at hand to take notes; therefore he had to go to the university near his house. No one knows when his fingers become useless. Whenever his heart stops beating, he can live no longer. Right now he is in second year of university. He said that he is working hard on everything he can do today and fighting against the fear of death, which is approaching each day. These are some words he wrote for his local newspaper. I want to go out and play with my friends. It might be a simple thing, but I want to do things that everyone does naturally. Is it wrong to think that way? Why does everyone look at us like we are special people? All people who are physically challenged like me, regret their fate and suffer sometimes. But we face the future positively at all times. We fight against our distress. In my case, I was able to build a strong will and feelings because I have this kind of disorder. I have a great personality that everyone would adore. I can now say to everyone that I'm proud of myself. By reading his words, I recognized that I might have been treating physically challenged people as special, because I felt pity for them. Feeling pity for them is the cruelest thing I could do to them. Each of us is different. It is natural to have things one cannot do. Today, I met a man who cannot walk by himself, but can think just like more able-bodied people. Also, I met a girl who is physically challenged and cannot think or recognize whatever we say or do. A man who can think, but cannot move as he desires, or a girl who cannot understand any of the beautiful things around her. Which is more painful? I cannot say which, and there is no answer for it, but one thing I can say for sure is that they both feel pain when we discriminate against physically challenged people, just like how we feel pain when we are discriminated against. The man I met today made me think about equal rights. Also, he taught me the importance of "now". We have to recognize that each day is valuable. We have to spend every minute as precious time so as not to regret at the time when we are unable to do things.

Child Research Net would like to thank the Doshisha International Junior/Senior High School and Eriko Matsumoto, student and author, for permitting reproduction of this article on the CRN web site.

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