Crippled by a Glimpse...

Have you ever tried to understand or imagine our planet by just glimpsing at a globe?  It's impossible to comprehend such a magnitude in such a short time so why do we try the same with people?

For instance, sixteen year old Violet, new to her school and crippled with only one foot, she knows that every time someone sees her, they will almost always try to imagine what she must be going through. Those people are almost always wrong. Violet lost her right foot when she was hiking six years back, she slipped near the top of a fairly tall mountain and the damage was so severe doctors couldn't do anything.

Even without a foot, she stood tall and beautiful. Her sleek, dark hair reached just past her shoulders. Kind, emerald eyes and well rounded figure made her almost irresistible. It was the incomplete leg that scared the crowds.

Violet could never understand why people were so fearful of her, she didn't snarl at anyone and she was certainly very friendly whenever someone asked her for anything.

Being disabled was only good for a few things like easy parking for her mum, but when it came down to living normally, by going out to clubs, doing sport and being in the school play, Violet wasn't the happiest crayon in the box.

She could participate in the odd sport like swimming and archery but acting was really her dream. She loved going to the Playhouse and reading Athol Fuguard but there was never a chance to be onstage, until her school had a talk on the subject of safety.

Having heard it a thousand times before when she was still able to hike, she zoned out.

No one had ever heard about her accident, nobody really cared before.  No one knew that the emerald-eyed girl had been sporty and adventurous before her wheelchair - if there was a before in their eyes. No one had asked, until the Safety Officer she called Mom asked her to share.

Last Post I Promise!

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How Do You Comfort a Stranger?

Imagine you’re just walking down a street – preferably a safe one – and you see a girl about your age sitting on some steps. She’s just staring into the distance: not moving, not saying anything, and blinking only when the tears make her eyes too heavy. She’s dressed for something special, and even though it’s cold out, she hasn’t got a jersey and the only thing she has on is a fitted black dress and fishnet stockings, red heels thrown aside.

‘Why is she sitting here?’ you start to wonder. Should you be a gentleman and sit down beside her and let her mouth just empty out her story? Is it too late to pretend not to notice her? Perhaps your best option to get away is to pretend you’ve forgotten something and turn back to find another way home. While, in the time you’ve taken to think, she’s turned towards you with a desperate look in her eyes.

“We enjoy warmth because we have been cold,” stutter her lips. “We appreciate light because we have been in darkness... And in the same sense, we can experience joy because we have known sadness.” A tear breaks through her mascara.

Intrigued, now, at what she has to say, your feet draw mistakenly toward her. Your own silence follows. “Sorry,” she stumbles, “I didn’t mean to disturb you, but the air is too pressing for silence.” She begins to rub away the tears.

Confused yet still silent you’re lost for words, your hands start pointing in different directions, supposedly indicating if you can leave. The look on her face makes you stop and just say “Huh?”

She looks where the moonlight sheds an eerie light on the alleyway, takes a deep breath ready to speak and starts weeping again. You stride toward the alleyway, determined to find the problem, and convert into what she must’ve looked about ten minutes ago. Guys don’t walk down the street prepared for this.

Lying by the wall like a clump of old play dough was a baby. Covered in everything; from dirt to after birth. Through glassy eyes you notice light bruises, and even as horrific as the image is, you can’t push your own eyes away.

That tiny baby was a victim and unknown to be so. Nobody knows what happened to it and nobody knows what to do with it. An inconvenience to everybody.