Have you ever felt like society tries to control you by telling you to live within a set of parameters made of the expectations of people you don't know and probably wouldn't like even if you did know?
The whole idea of living within limits defined by other people's expectations is as distasteful as trying to chug sour milk. Expecting people to live within the law is good and reasonable, but expecting people to walk and talk, dress and conduct themselves a certain way is an attempt to fit them with a harness so they can pull around your expectations like they're an ox pulling a plow.
My experience with living large despite being told I would have a very limited life, even if I came out of my coma, started when I first became conscious of my surroundings. I remember days going by before the the hospital's chief neuron surgeon responded to my request for him to come to my room.
The surgeon was one of the few people who could understand me even if I didn't point of letters on my alphabet board.
"How soon will I be able to get out of this bed and this hospital," I asked.
"Al," he replied softly. "You'll never be able to walk or talk understandably or drive again."
What! I'm a 19 year old roofer. I have to walk, I have to talk, I have to drive!
Frantically I threw my bedclothes off me, pushed my paralyzed leg off the bed with my other weakened leg and tried to stand up. I fell on my face. Two nurses and a doctor helped me back in bed, but as soon as they turned around I climbed back out and fell again. This time, they put me back in bed and strapped me in.
As I lay strapped to the bed, staring at the ceiling and contemplating my grim future, I was momentarily too stunned and horrified to have anything remotely resembling a coherant thought, but looking back I can see how this was when I began developing the willingness to live outside the box. Actually, living outside the box of people's expectations wasn't as much a choice as it was a survival skill. Living outside the box is living outside the expectations of narrow minded people who think they know the end from the beginning. Living outside expectations is living without limits. Hence my book, No Limits.
Speaker - Author - Standup Comic
- Al Foxx
- United States
- Founder President,.....................................www.winnersdontquit.org----------Winners Don't Quit Association
5 comments:
Good for you, Al! No Limits!!!
One of my favorite stories as a kid was of a boy who wouldn't accept the word can't. It showed a picture of him punching out the letter "t". So from then on, I have never accepted the word can't. There's ALWAYS a way to get around things that we can no longer do. Just don't tell me "I can't." If you do, I'll figure out a different way to do it.
When I read this to my parents, we had to chuckle, BUT in reality, we just can't accept someone else's limits of us. We must strive to be all we can be--No Limits! We CAN prove them wrong! If we can't do it one way, there's other ways to explore. Don't give up accept No Limits!
We people put limits on others and ourselves. Limits on others come from not knowing them, or believing in them. We often don't believe in ourselves, or are just too lazy to try. With God there is no limit. Believe Him, trust His power and live for Him and you will live life to the full.
Your comment Mr or Mrs, or Ms Anonymous is in line with my thinking. Unfortunately, many people I've met don't believe in a God, Divine Source or Higher Power that it's possible to have a personal relationship with. For whatever reason, they either will-not or can-not believe this way.
God, as I understand him or her, is the only Source of lasting hope, but different people understand God differently. I started this blog to help peolple affected by disabilities, whether or not they understand things of a spiritual nature the same way I do.
The God of my understanding told me to love, or help, my neighbor. Sometimes a neighbor doesn't see or understand things the same way I do. What then? Should I try to change their thinking or should I focus on loving and helping them?
What did the Good Samaratan do?
Because I'm a man of faith, I will happily respond to comments of a spiritual nature. Because I'm a man of faith who understands the dilemma of those without faith, unless a comment requests a spiritual or scriptural response to their specific comment, I will not share my spiritual beliefs on this blog. I will keep to its purpose, which is to share hope with folks affected by their own or someone else's disability.
Since I can, I may change my mind at anytime and write a God post. If that offends you, I'm sorry. Please get over it.
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