PROACTIVE

Attitude = Altitude

I have mixed feelings about the article a few posts below. Yes, I see I am to a degree disabled by a society that disables me. Handicapped ramp at the wrong end of the strip mall? Sorry, but we are following the law. No, Mr. LaVack, you did not get the job because of your handicap, we found a more qualified person. I'm sure they did. You cannot use the cars in our store? Sorry, but we DO have them. No biggy, I'll do plan "B." I'm lucky I don't face as many barriers as those who have less education, or happen to be poor AND handicapped. I think they have a much steeper hill to climb than I do. But come to think of it, we all have hills to climb, crosses to carry or call them burdens. It is a part of the human condition as we know it. And no we do not have as much control over our lives as our western narrative tells us we do.  We are for the most part playing  a part assigned to us from birth via culture. I'm an average white guy living my white guy life. It may not be impossible for me to become a black Muslim living in North Africa (at least culturally) but what in the hell could I do with all my white guy baggage? We do not quite make ourselves, rather we are made by culture; the stories we tell about ourselves individually and whatever groups we are in. This does not mean we cannot be PROACTIVE. I can do more than let life happen to me. 

Yeah, I cannot be a Black Muslim from North Africa but I can learn from him. He will have some cool stuff to share with me if I invite him to. We can change our culture on a personal level. I can simply hang around those who think and act like me or expand my horizons. I don't know about you but I like the latter option. But to make this happen, I have to be proactive. I have to use the little control I do have over my life to meet others and expand my horizons. We cannot always have control over over what happens to us but I think we always control how we react to these events. What's the better option when I don't get the job? "What you got against handicapped people you %&*#@?" or "No problem. I'll keep looking until I find the right one for me." That bloke may know of another job for me. May as well be cool about it. I CAN choose to be cool about it.  I think it is better not to slam a door shut. Yeah, it may be harder for me to find a job but blaming a disabling society is not going to go a long way towards keeping the lights on and food and beer in the fridge. I have to think proactively and come up with a work around; ie learn something that is needed more than an employer's reluctance to hire a handicapped person. This is greater than just getting a job. 

Our health is also at stake. Yeah, I live in a place where one cannot hit a golf ball without hitting a fast food restaurant  (or a church but that's another post) and sweet sugary crap abounds in any store I shop at for food. I can go against popular culture as seen on tv and skip it all for broccoli and healthy stuff.  But I did have my bi-annual Big Mac yesterday minus the defib. I can lie around the house watching March Madness, movies and documentaries on The Black Death but if I want to help my heart and he rest of my body stay healthy, I better add some exercise and other physical activity in there. I may be handicapped but that in no way means I cannot come up with things to do to get the ole hart rate up. I can bounce my basketball and do leg lifts to infinity, okay thirty minutes to an hour each day. Neither of which requires an expensive gym membership. If you are reading this, you too can do something similar. Get PROACTIVE!