February 19, 2004 1:30 P.M.
Okay�so it�s Ghastly/!
But this is what the State of California says I look like. Yesterday Stefani wrote about getting her license renewed and how long she will have the same photo on it. Last summer I �surrendered� my license (vision) and got a new California I.D.
This is the photo from that I.D. I wonder if there will be any resemblance to what I will look like in 2012 when it expires.
I am sure that some people will wonder why in the world I would post such an unflattering photo for all to see. I don�t know why. Maybe it will start a new trend of journalists posting their photo I.D.s.
Somehow, I doubt it.
I have spent quite a bit of time trying to arrange �before� and �after� photos of my new kitchen appliances. I can�t get them to �perform� as I want them to. So I am going to pass on the photos for now.
I don�t know who took this picture, but I love it. It could be a photo of the foothills of just about any mountain range in California.
Here is another California picture. Sunrise in the San Fernando Valley. My son took this photo last week.
�Allrighty, then�� Is this rambling on about nothing�or what!
Perhaps I can redeem this page with the following. I just finished �reading� a new memoir entitled �Blindsided�. It is written by Richard M. Cohen, who happens to be the husband of Meredith Veira of �The View�, and other T.V. productions.
As a young man in his twenties Richard was diagnosed with M.S., and in addition to the other ravages of this illness in his body, he is now legally blind. He maintains a regular position as a journalist and writer, traveling into New York City by himself to work each day.
His, is an amazing story, and I found the book chock full of �one-liners� which are awe-inspiring. I almost couldn�t put the book down, once I began reading it. The following are just some of his �one-liners�, most of which are taken just from the preface of the book. It was especially meaningful to me, in learning to live with disability�positively.
From the Preface:
The experience of life with MS has taught me extraordinary lessons about living.
These pages are not about suffering. That would be tedious. This book is about surviving and flourishing, rising above fear and self doubt, and�of course�anger.
This book is not about sickness, but about the search for emotional health.
Learning to live with adversity is instinctive and self-taught. It is the stuff of life.
These pages chronicle the struggle in that exotic place just north of the neck.
Illness is a family affair.
As my body weakens, my spirit grows strong and occasionally soars.
Who I am, my very identity rests in my head. It is from that fortress�my command post�that my being takes shape. The battle to control our heads is every bit as important as combating the attacks on our body. The psychological war with illness is fought on two fronts: on the battlefield of the mind and in the depths of the heart.
Attitude is a weapon of choice, endlessly worked. The positive impulse must struggle to survive in a troubled mind.
Disease adds dimension to a person. Depth to the soul. In the end, that is not so bad.
I need to come to grips with who I am and what is important, before I can function at my best with others. That has yet to happen for I am a work in progress, with no end in sight.
Coping is forever an aspiration. I need to stop getting hung-up on conventional issues of control, and inabilities that just do not matter.
We all need to appreciate ourselves for what we are, and stop whining about what we are not.
I grow weary of waiting so desperately for something else. Those concerns find no resolution. All I can do, is do what I can do.
(He describes the two opposite sides of Denial. There is a positive side which allows a person to keep on going�in spite of�)
Denial has two sides. Its more attractive side�for me�denial has been the lynchpin of my determination to cope and hope. Denial allows any individual with a problem to invent his or her personal reality and to move forward with life in the belief that he or she is in control and can do what needs to be done to keep going. Denial encourages anyone to test perceived limits, and as a consequence, to postpone concessions. There is nothing wrong with that.
Adulthood must be learned anew from time to time.
As we let our light shine, we unconsciously give other people the permission to do the same.
One last thought, which I didn not get from the book, but from his T.V. interview with Barbara Walters:
�The greatest casualty of illness or disability is dependence."
I have found this to be very true. But I know that there are lessons to be learned here also.
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Text � copyright 2003 - 2008 The Homespun Philosopher
2008