It is not often that I become emotional about my work, but this morning was an exception (in fact I was in tears). As a personal injury lawyer, I see people who have been severely injured and their lives altered by the negligence of others. However, over the years I have become clinical with my approach and focus more on protecting and guiding my clients than letting my mind and heart be clouded by emotion. Along that vein, I represent an astounding young lady in her late 30s who is a personal injury victim of a Toyota brake failure. For discretions sake, lets call her C for client. C was in an accident when she was 33 years old wherein her brakes failed and she collided with an 18-wheeler driving in the opposite direction on I-10. She is now a single mother of four children and is a quadriplegic (all you moms remember that next time you are freaking out that the nanny took the day off and think about this moms struggles). Cs daughter, who is now 10 years old, has been Cs primary care taker since the accident. Over the last several months, C and I have become very close and speak every other day. I touched base with her this morning regarding her case to give her an update. C began the conversation by telling me how proud she was of my bodybuilding season (we are FB friends). The remark took me back, because I wondered if she perceived the sport as vain and egocentric, as many people do. So we had an in-depth conversation on the subject and she told me her thoughts were contrary to what I originally thought she might perceive. In fact, I found her thoughts to be profound and merited being shared with all of you. Her thoughts were that life is so short and you should take every opportunity to enjoy your life, your passions, and use your physical body as much as you can (she ran marathons before the accident). Remarkably, she said, I am even more grateful now for what I do have than what I dont. Yes, I cannot do anything on my own, but I have a family that does those things for me. I have terrific hearing, sight, and I have not lost my ability to feel with my face and taste with my tongue. My childrens kisses on the cheeks are so much more powerful than they were before. I will forever need a caretaker, but my family and friends trip over themselves to take turns in coming to see and take care of me. I will never be able to make love again, but, remarkable, even though I cannot feel anything below my neck, my heart and love for people, and God, has grown stronger. I promise you that if I had my body back, I would never miss a run, never take the elevator up a flight or two of stairs, and I would never ever complain about having to stand and wait in line again, because I would be using amazing gifts that God has given us. These words brought me to tears. We are a society that always wants more. As a bodybuilder, I compete in a world where you can never be lean enough, dry enough, have a small enough waist, have big enough shoulders. But the truth is the sooner we all begin to see the glass as half full rather than half empty, the world will be a happier place, because the people that comprise it will be happier. And that is a choice. Now I am not saying that we should all sit idly and not seek to accomplish great things and want for more, but I believe that obsessive hunger can be governed by a peaceful humility that says even though I am working for more, I am so dang grateful for what I already have. Everybody have an awesome and grateful Sunday.
Posted on: Sun, 03 Aug 2014 16:53:21 +0000
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