CP and the AT

At the end of February, before I left my part time ministry with Parkwood of Gastonia, I made a trip to Washington, D.C. with my colleague, Andrew. We stayed in a Quaker owned and run guest house just down the street from the congressional building. We took walks every morning up to the Lincoln Memorial.                                                 

Walking, a basic human activity the majority most of us take for granted every day. However those afflicted with the physical challenge of cerebral palsy have a different experience with each step they take.

CP and its effects have been on my mind since that D.C. trip because before we left, am friend from my Kenya days back in the 1990s, Kevin, invited me and Andrew to join him and one of his daughters on a tour of the congressional building. It turned out to be a once in a life time experience!

                                                                  

We were led on the tour by a young man serving as an intern to the Congressional Majority Whip. He has CP. It clearly was not easy for him to walk us around such a large place. He always had a bead of sweat on his forehead.

However, his enthusiasm and willingness to share his knowledge of the place made us soon forget about his physical challenge. He was a superb guide and we had a blast.

What does this have to do with the AT?  Well, as I told Renee the other day, if you could make a video of me walking on the rocks of PA, without showing what I am walking on, you would swear the man in the video had CP. Partly that is also due to the fact that I am walking with trekking poles and I use them very aggressively; swinging them from side to side and out front in an attempt to keep my balance.

I know that I expressed my appreciation to the young man at the end if our tour, but at this moment I do not think I expressed it deeply enough.

Plus I did not appraise him with the sense of genuine awe I would now feel over his willingness and sheer joy in being our guide, even though he had to work so much harder than the rest of us.

CP is a tough challenge. In reality I have to admit I only have a very distant sense of what it must be like. But this small taste will cause me to be more appreciative of all people who experience challenges with basic human functions.

Lord, help me to never lose my sense of awe when I see your grace and goodness at work in folks who face and overcome every day of their lives challenges of a nature I have never known.

David Crane