Think Before You Speak
I was listening to the radio the other day. (For those of you out of touch with things mundane, radio is like streaming audio, but in your car.) There was a commercial that came on. Okay, there were a lot of commercials. But there was one in particular which was advertising a fundraiser for a Gulf War (II) vet who was injured in combat and is now an amputee. The fundraiser is to assist in the payment to make modifications to his home, so that he can function in it.
Now before you start thinking that I am going to start picking on this poor gentleman, let me allay your fears by saying nothing could be further from the truth. I have kept politics out of this blog, for the most part, and don’t intend to start on that topic as yet. Suffice it to say that I do not support the war, nor the bogus reasons we have been given as to why we are there. I DO, however, support all of our troops stationed overseas. They are doing an amazing thing under conditions that I can’t even imagine. I have nothing but respect and admiration for these folks.
What caught my attention was the way it was phrased. They are wanting to raise money to help him transition to his “new amputee lifestyle.”
I don’t want to sound too much like George Carlin, but this seems like rhetorical B.S. to me! You don’t have an “amputee lifestyle,” you have a bachelor lifestyle, a swinger lifestyle, a gay lifestyle, a rich lifestyle, etc. This is tantamount to saying that a homeless mentally ill person has a “carefree lifestyle.” What kind of crap is this? We are taking this man who sacrificed parts of his body doing a job that few are willing to do.
He is not picking out new drapes with his new girlfriend, he is having to learn to function in ways that circumvent the ways he has functioned for his entire life, up til now. He has to make adjustments to an environment that he was comfortable in prior to his being deployed overseas. He has to make a shift to a condition that most people will never have to experience and that society at large fails to fully accommodate adequately.
Calling this an “amputee lifestyle” seems insulting. It diminishes the loss and sacrifice of his condition.
************
Random Fact: (From Amputee Online) Phantom sensation is not just the feeling of having a limb when no limb is present (which usually goes away). It is a term used for any sensation or pain originating from a residual (stump) limb.
http://www.amputee-online.com/amputee/phantom.html
Now before you start thinking that I am going to start picking on this poor gentleman, let me allay your fears by saying nothing could be further from the truth. I have kept politics out of this blog, for the most part, and don’t intend to start on that topic as yet. Suffice it to say that I do not support the war, nor the bogus reasons we have been given as to why we are there. I DO, however, support all of our troops stationed overseas. They are doing an amazing thing under conditions that I can’t even imagine. I have nothing but respect and admiration for these folks.
What caught my attention was the way it was phrased. They are wanting to raise money to help him transition to his “new amputee lifestyle.”
I don’t want to sound too much like George Carlin, but this seems like rhetorical B.S. to me! You don’t have an “amputee lifestyle,” you have a bachelor lifestyle, a swinger lifestyle, a gay lifestyle, a rich lifestyle, etc. This is tantamount to saying that a homeless mentally ill person has a “carefree lifestyle.” What kind of crap is this? We are taking this man who sacrificed parts of his body doing a job that few are willing to do.
He is not picking out new drapes with his new girlfriend, he is having to learn to function in ways that circumvent the ways he has functioned for his entire life, up til now. He has to make adjustments to an environment that he was comfortable in prior to his being deployed overseas. He has to make a shift to a condition that most people will never have to experience and that society at large fails to fully accommodate adequately.
Calling this an “amputee lifestyle” seems insulting. It diminishes the loss and sacrifice of his condition.
************
Random Fact: (From Amputee Online) Phantom sensation is not just the feeling of having a limb when no limb is present (which usually goes away). It is a term used for any sensation or pain originating from a residual (stump) limb.
http://www.amputee-online.com/amputee/phantom.html
posted by Eric the Something at 3/03/2006 02:47:00 PM
2 Comments:
I agree with you whole-heartedly. Unfortunately, "WE" are the minority....
Many people walk this earth barefooted--with their heels of their shoes sticking out of their mouths. I call them 2 words:
JIZZ HEADS...
BWAAA HAAAA HAAAA!!!!
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