I struggled to find an appropriate title for this post. I thought about “insensitivity” or “stupidity” but finally settled on “ignorance”. However, let me set the scene for you and you can judge for yourself what it should be.
A year or so ago, I started to experience back pain. I found that walking support poles eased this pain and so I have been using walking sticks or poles – poles similar to those used in skiing. The poles have been the cause of a few friendly comments on my regular local walking path. This was evident last summer when a couple of people asked me if I had the seasons mixed up. For instance, did I know that winter had not yet arrived? Did I know that I was skiing on gravel? These comments were made in jest and I took them accordingly.
Now to the present! On our cruise, Lyle, Shirley and I went for several long walks at the various ports of call. I took my walking sticks. By the way, this is always a difficult call for me. The sticks are blue and unlike my white cane, don’t indicate that I am visually impaired. However, on with the story.
After one such excursion, we arrived back at the ship and were sitting on the dock with a few other passengers having a welcome drink of cold water. Suddenly the man sitting on my left turned to me and asked, “So, are you so lame that you need two sticks to walk with?” (The emphasis was on the word, “two”.
I must admit that I was stunned. This man had no idea of my mobility issues. Did he think that I used my walking poles for fun? Did he not realize that I might have been suffering from some debilitating condition that resulted in my poor mobility?
Shortly after his comment, the man got up and left our little group. Those of us who remained discussed his insensitive comment. Another passenger suggested that perhaps the man in question had tried to make a joke that fell flat. Personally, I couldn’t see it.
Sometimes, I have heard people make insensitive comments about my sight, but I must admit that this particular comment about my possible lameness or lack of mobility nearly took my breath away.
So, what should I have titled this post? Ignorance, insensitivity, or stupidity? I leave it to you to decide.
No comments:
Post a Comment