This is Ron with your Motivational Message:
Through my years of travel and the various experiences that I have had with individuals who have disabilities, I’ve noticed that one of the biggest desires for those with disabilities is a chance or opportunity to work or provide assistance to others. Ironically, I have had a bias, myself, which underestimates the abilities of those with disabilities. Sometimes we subconsciously assume certain things about people and miss out on what they are truly capable of. For example, one of the questions that I am frequently asked is, “how can you paint?” They are assuming there is only one way to hold a paintbrush. 🙂
During the beginning of the building phase of Camp Attitude, there was a lot of ground-clearing, leveling, and grass seeding. On this particular day, about thirty teenagers from a local youth group had volunteered to clear rocks and debris to prepare an area to plant the new grass. I sat and watched with my buddy, Jeremy, who was thirteen at the time and confined to a wheelchair; a result of his Brittle Bone Disease. We watched as the teens worked. We could hear lots of grumbling and complaining about being tired, having sore hands, sore backs, being too hot, wondering when a break was coming, etc. However, Jeremy looked at me and said, “hey, Ron, can I get a job to do?” I looked at his small, brittle body and I thought for a second, “what could you do, Jeremy?” But instead, I told him, “sure, what kind of job would you like?” “If you give me a small bucket, I can hold it with my toes and with my other foot I could pick up little rocks,” he said. I told him that it was a great idea and we went to find him a bucket. Jeremy quickly asked, “will I get paid?” I replied, “well, what do you think that you are worth?” “Eight dollars an hour, but I would take five.”
I sat in amazement as I watched Jeremy raking soil with his wheelchair and carefully picking rocks with his toes and putting them into the small bucket. He worked alongside the other teenagers and one thing became noticeable–I heard absolutely no more grumbling from the teens. However, a couple of hours later, one of the teens ran up to me frantic saying, “Jeremy fell out of his chair and is bleeding!” I thought, “oh, Lord, what have I done?” Jeremy’s mother rushed over to access the situation—thank the Good Lord that he was okay! Embarrassed and disappointed, sporting a chipped tooth from the fall, Jeremy wiped the tears from his eyes and said, “don’t worry about me, Ron. Thanks for giving me the chance.” I responded, “you are the man! Anybody who works that hard is worth ten dollars an hour, easily.” With the money the he earned from his day of work, Jeremy bought his mother a special gift.
We underestimate ourselves or sometimes will lack creativity in our thinking–we lose a job and give up the search, we suffer an injury to one hand and fail to try the other. I personally know it is not easy to think outside of the box in times of hardship and despair, but as Jeremy inspired me, I too would like to encourage you to pick up a bucket and go collect stones, even if it seems impossible.
To your inspiration,
Ron
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