May. 26, 2005 - 22:23 MDT

THE "C" WORD

It would be so easy to fall back five and just give up the process of slogging one's way through life. Much of the time that's what it is it seems. Periods of rest, fun, joy, happiness but the old day to day grind is with most of us the biggest part of the of the time. Slogging through the swamp, an eye out for alligators, aiming for the end of the day, hoping for respite where we are finally headed at day's end.

I guess that is what makes me realize just how much fun all of that good stuff is, by comparison.

Tho I suffer not the tortures of the damned as some people do who are gravely afflicted, yet pain is my daily companion, disability its right hand man.

There are times when I tend to sink into self despair and then I think of folks so very much worse off than I am. For instance, Stephen Hawking (not sure of that name) the scientist guy. Nailed into a wheel chair all day every day, severely hampered in his movements, but his mind, his brain roams the whole universe. People I have known personally who had cancer yet squeezed joy from every moment, folks who didn't give up life willingly and used every second the best way they could.

It is one thing this "learning one's limits," but another just laying back and saying something to the effect that it is absolutely not possible to enjoy life, to put pain in the background and slog on.

There is an old joke about the boss who said there is no such thing as "can't" to which a smartass employee said, "'Ja ever try ta strike a match on a wet bar of soap ?" Funny it is, but I must combat the insidious, creeping word which could come into my vocabulary every day. Often I say, I can do it, it will take longer, be more tiring, but I want to and I must. Knowing my limits and going about my life, trying to avoid CAN'T - - - - THE "C" WORD . . . . . . . . . . . .

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