on a limb
I was going through a comment that Steven left here on the blog about a post I did awhile ago. That post had to do with men who had artificial limbs and because I've been writing about inclusivity (yeah, we should include that), I thought this video could be perfect to talk about the fact that we need to consider 'other' bodies just as valuable and/or attractive as our own. And that we are lucky to have ours.
When we are bitching because we cannot lose those pounds or because our belly has stubbornly decided to not shrink after the holidays or because we discovered that -horror- we don't spring to attention the second we see some attractive man in his underwear, we should bring ourselves down to earth and count our fucking blessings. Yeah. I said that. Because we should consider ourselves lucky.
Because thankfully we have not had to go through some traumatic event that has left us in really bad shape. Like the men in the video. They have had to adapt to a technology that allows them to function in a world created by and for body abled people. I don't want to think what they have to go through to reconcile the new body they're left with with who they were before. Not only in their daily lives, moving around and going on with their lives and jobs. But what about when the prosthetics come off? What about when they don't have the shield of their clothes? They are still the same men they were before, even if their bodies are not exactly the same.
I consider anybody who has had to go through something like this to be very brave. Apart from recovering from the accident/surgery/illness that caused them to lose a limb, they have to really put an effort into going back to 'the world'. A world that now sees them as hommes manques. I see them more as wounded warriors (and many of them literally ARE wounded warriors). They were fighting life, after all. And we need to see them just as men. Whether with a prosthetic arm or leg or whatever, they are still men.
So this is what I need to think about when I start complaining about some stupid shit that happened to me. I am lucky. Most of us are lucky. We better remember that.
xoxo
thank you for posting this. my ex-husband's late father lost part of his left arm in korea. never wore an artificial limb. was as strong as an ox. he had a large knob on his car's steering wheel for turning while driving. never complained about his missing part. and I never asked him about how he lost it in korea.
ReplyDeleteBet he has stories to tell! Those men are RESILIENT.
DeleteSo true babe. My worst day is nothing compared to what these men went/are going through. Whether the difference in their body is through trauma or from birth they deserve respect and to be treated as whole.
ReplyDeleteThe gentleman talking about being treated differently in the checkout line just because he was in a wheelchair speaks volumes about our society. I think a lot of us need to re-evaluate how we interact with people who are different than us, be it a physical or mental challenge.
XOXO 👨❤️💋👨
I feel stabby when people look down on anybody who’s not ‘able’ 🙄.
DeleteI tend to stare at people with lost limbs, or in wheelchairs, or on crutches, not out of some sense of they are less than, but out of a sesne that they are true heroes, who've suffered something most of us will never know, and keep going.
ReplyDeleteThey are an inspiration,
Same! Total heroes.
DeleteBuen post colega. Un abrazo fuerte.
ReplyDeleteGracias! Que bueno verte!
DeleteI've slept with a few stumps, in all interpretations of the word. I worked in rehab medicine with amputees. Back then, the prosthetics were so heavy, especially for the above knee amputee, that they resigned for a wheelchair. I'm sure they are much lighter today. War creates invention. I have never heard an amputee person mention body image. But phantom pain, yes.
ReplyDeleteGreat video!
OMG phantom pain apparently is excruciating.
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