That's what Ted Kennedy told his twelve-year-old son during Ted Junior's first winter with an artificial leg.
My father was born in 1913. I remember him telling me about the morning he tried to jump out of bed and collapsed: his twelve-year-old legs felt like useless sticks. Poliomyelitis.
His grandmother tied one end of a rope around her waist and tied the other end around his waist.
And she walked him around the yard.
And walked him around the yard.
And walked him around the yard.
Day after day after day.
Until he could walk again on his own.
In 1925 if you gave up on a farm boy with polio, you consigned him to a life as a wheelchair-bound dependent.
I imagine Rose Kennedy, who raised the man who told his son, "There is nothing that you can't do," was much like my Irish great-grandmother, who herself suffered from crippling arthritis. One must try simply because not trying is not among the options.
It is simply Going On.
Desperation becomes determination.
It is a bad hen that does not scratch for itself.
Is olc an chearc nach scríobann di féin.
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5 comments:
Accepting the challenge, not giving up and moving forward would make one feel better...no matter the outcome!
Ted Jr.'s story touched me as he told it and the story of YOUR father and his mother is equally gripping! We so desperately need these kinds of stories to inspire us when we would "give up" with far less challenges to overcome!
Is treise toil ná tuiscint= Will is stronger than understanding.
Well said! Very touching!
June thanks for stopping by my blog and voting for my picture. I usually don't enter contests but thought what the heck. If I would win and that is a very big if it would be an adventure trip. Again thanks.
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