Blessed with Sadness
Blessed with Sadness
Blonde beach babes. Everywhere I looked there were posters of scantily clad, big-breasted women. Some of them were in bikinis, while others sported glossy-black leather. Every one of these women were a picture-perfect fantasy of the male mind. It was strange to see them, here of all places...yet not strange at all.
"Have a good night Michael," I said, walking out of the room slowly.
A two-toothed smile, and a guttural grunt was all Michael offered as a farewell to my departure.
Leaving the nursing home, I continued to ponder the strange scene that had befallen my eyes and bewitched my mind. My client, Michael, who occupies this normal looking room is confined to a wheel chair. He is also unable to speak vocally without the use of a small computer that he types into to verbalize his inner most thoughts. Yet, despite his apparent disadvantage, he is like any other regular man. He eats, he sleeps, he enjoys watching tv and movies, and even plays video games...and he is interested in women.
It is funny that I would not expect something so normal from another human being, even with his disadvantages. Societies portrayal of these types of individuals as being different and special in their own way must be ingrained more deeply in me then I was ever aware of. Though individuals like Michael do need extra assistance and care that the average human would be capable of doing themselves, the natural human desires engrained in our DNA stay the same.
The real shock for myself was why would I expect this individual to have any different needs or desires than myself? How did my mind ever come up with the idea in the first place? Today I really feel like I have had a glimpse at the true human experience, and how social programming has effected myself on an unconscious level. Today, I plan to open my eyes and my mind more fully to the human experience, and to seek to understand, then to be understood.
With these realizations I can not help but feel a gut level sadness for an individual like Michael. He may never know the warmth of a woman's touch, the sacred nights filled with pillow talk, shared dreams and desires that come with reciprocated love on that level. He will never know the magic of sex and what it is truly like to be connected to an individual of the opposite sex in such a simple, yet profound manner. He will never see his son's and daughter's playing at his feet, o their son's and daughter's after them. His lineage ends with him...and that makes me sad, and ashamed- to think that an individual like Michael, could be so different from myself, yet the same in every way. Today, I am blessed with sadness.
Blonde beach babes. Everywhere I looked there were posters of scantily clad, big-breasted women. Some of them were in bikinis, while others sported glossy-black leather. Every one of these women were a picture-perfect fantasy of the male mind. It was strange to see them, here of all places...yet not strange at all.
"Have a good night Michael," I said, walking out of the room slowly.
A two-toothed smile, and a guttural grunt was all Michael offered as a farewell to my departure.
Leaving the nursing home, I continued to ponder the strange scene that had befallen my eyes and bewitched my mind. My client, Michael, who occupies this normal looking room is confined to a wheel chair. He is also unable to speak vocally without the use of a small computer that he types into to verbalize his inner most thoughts. Yet, despite his apparent disadvantage, he is like any other regular man. He eats, he sleeps, he enjoys watching tv and movies, and even plays video games...and he is interested in women.
It is funny that I would not expect something so normal from another human being, even with his disadvantages. Societies portrayal of these types of individuals as being different and special in their own way must be ingrained more deeply in me then I was ever aware of. Though individuals like Michael do need extra assistance and care that the average human would be capable of doing themselves, the natural human desires engrained in our DNA stay the same.
The real shock for myself was why would I expect this individual to have any different needs or desires than myself? How did my mind ever come up with the idea in the first place? Today I really feel like I have had a glimpse at the true human experience, and how social programming has effected myself on an unconscious level. Today, I plan to open my eyes and my mind more fully to the human experience, and to seek to understand, then to be understood.
With these realizations I can not help but feel a gut level sadness for an individual like Michael. He may never know the warmth of a woman's touch, the sacred nights filled with pillow talk, shared dreams and desires that come with reciprocated love on that level. He will never know the magic of sex and what it is truly like to be connected to an individual of the opposite sex in such a simple, yet profound manner. He will never see his son's and daughter's playing at his feet, o their son's and daughter's after them. His lineage ends with him...and that makes me sad, and ashamed- to think that an individual like Michael, could be so different from myself, yet the same in every way. Today, I am blessed with sadness.
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