Walking the Dream

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._N._Taber

 “There is no greater disability in society, than the inability to see a person as more.” – Robert M. Hensel

My advice to other disabled people would be, concentrate on the things your disability doesn’t prevent you doing well, and don’t regret the things it interferes with.” – Stephen Hawking

“Although the world is full of suffering, it is also full of the overcoming of it.” - Helen Keller

Once overheard by yours truly: Able-bodied person to wheelchair user: “Don’t you feel bitter about not being able to walk?”

Wheelchair user: “I did once, but soon learned that bitterness is the worst kind of disability. “Besides,” the disabled person added with a wry grin, “… once you learn to walk the dream, you can start enjoying the scenery again.”

Now, I was only 12 years old at the time and didn’t understand the implications, but I never forgot that snippet of conversation. 

Growing old now, and - after a bad fall in 2012 – unable to enjoy walking as I used to and miss it terribly. That spot of earwigging, though, always springs to mind whenever I start feeling sorry for myself. After all, I can still get out and about with the aid of compression stockings and a walking stick. Even other health issues that plague me, from time to time, pale into insignificance whenever I think of what some people have to endure  all the time and do so with a strength of mind-body-spirit aenough to put a smile on their faces.

Suffice to say, disabled people are truly inspirational. 

WALKING THE DREAM

I’d walk miles by rivers, streams,
leafy woods and lively forested lands
thrilling to the sounds
of wildlife, feeling privileged to breathe
its air, tread its grounds,
invoke the freedoms to which it was born,
if only to be hunted down

I grow older, hopefully the wiser
for walking those miles, bringing smile
to a heart-and-soul
always under threat by the ways of a world
challenging mind-body-spirit
to anticipate and outwit any devilish schemes
posing a threat to our dreams

Yet, humankind faces other threats
heart-and-soul needs must learn to rise
above its tears and fears,
bring mind-body-spirit into even fuller play
than wet believed possible,
hive the lie to our life’s being as bad as it seems,
start walking our dreams 

Mobility problems and other issues
may well do their best to undermine us,
yet, heart-and-soul
not so readily backing down from any threat,
by accident or human design
likely to thwart us, hurt us, bring us to our knees,
desperately seeking peace

I walk miles by rivers, streams,
leafy woods and lively, forested lands,
thrilling to the sounds
of wildlife, feeling privileged to breathe
its air, tread its grounds,
enjoy such freedoms as invoke memories, fictions,
and walking my dreams

Mind-body-spirit, empowering us all with an ability 
to bring a whole new dimension to our reality...

Copyright R. N. Taber, 2022