Putting things into perspective

[csquared]

Reading a couple of stories about disabled military personnel reminded me of this.

Several year ago, my father had knee replacement surgery. He was about 84 at the time.

Besides my father, I know two other people who have had knee replacement. To say that the post surgery physical therapy is painful, is an understatement.

As you can imagine, my father was doing his PT all bubbling and smiling whining and compalining. Finally someone came up to my father and told him to STFU and that he should consider himself luck. The man was a Marine who had lost his leg to a land mine.

According to my mother, the physical therapist said that she had never seen such a change in attitude. My father became the most obedient and obliging patient she had seen.


So what is your story of perspective?

[wolfie]

Sounds like something near the end of "Reach for the Sky" (biography of Douglas Bader, a WW2 British fighter pilot). After the war, he's touring a rehabilitation centre for disabled veterans, and (as usual) limping slightly. One veteran, with both legs amputated below the knee, is struggling to get used to his artificial legs. Bader tells him that he'll get used to it, and when the guy replies with something along the lines of "easy for you to say", Bader's response is to drop his trousers.

Why would Bader respond in this manner? To reveal the reason for his limp - both of his legs had been amputated, with one being ABOVE the knee. To top it off, all of his WW2 flying had been post-amputation.

[Marmalady]

Why would Bader respond in this manner? To reveal the reason for his limp - both of his legs had been amputated, with one being ABOVE the knee. To top it off, all of his WW2 flying had been post-amputation.

He's a hero of mine - to the extent that my son has the name Bader as one of his forenames. Hopefully he'll have the same determination not to let other people set his limits for him.