{"id":159,"date":"2008-12-04T13:26:39","date_gmt":"2008-12-04T21:26:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rayivey.com\/wordpress\/?p=159"},"modified":"2008-12-04T13:26:39","modified_gmt":"2008-12-04T21:26:39","slug":"a-bit-of-perspective","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.rayivey.com\/wordpress\/a-bit-of-perspective\/","title":{"rendered":""},"content":{"rendered":"\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"rss\"<\/a>\"instagram\"<\/a>

This morning I was at the gym and as I huffed and puffed on the Front Lateral Pull machine, I noticed a handsome guy working hard on the Hip Abductor machine. That he was handsome was not unusual; this is Hollywood after all. No, what was notable about him was that he was missing his right arm completely, and his left hand was a metal prosthesis. An Iraqi War Vet? Perhaps.<\/p>\n

As I watched him expertly manipulate the machine to adjust the weight for a series of sets, the same look of concentration on his face that everyone else at the gym had, without a trace of self-pity or self-consciousness, I could feel a lightbulb going off over my head. I had a moment of utter clarity, leading to the obvious question, <\/p>\n

Why don’t I have a wide-screen high-definition television yet?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Seriously. I’m not a bad person. I work, pay taxes, give to charity. And yet I’ve had to play Bioshock<\/em><\/strong>, Oblivion<\/em><\/strong>, and dozens of other XBox 360 games on my plain old, 32 inch Sony Trinitron.<\/p>\n

I’ve been trying to save the money for three years. So why? Why don’t I have a Samsung LN52A630 52″ LCD TV yet? Am I to face the prospect of having to play the new Prince of Persia<\/em><\/strong>, Dead Space<\/em><\/strong>, or, [shudder] Fable II<\/em><\/strong> without the visual glory of high-definition?<\/p>\n

Why has the universe singled me<\/em> out for this kind of suffering? I just looked at my birth certificate, and it doesn’t say the name “Job” anywhere on it.<\/p>\n

I don’t know the answer. I just know that few people suffer as I suffer.<\/p>\n

So the next time you see someone with a “disability, ” or some other kind of “disadvantage, ” remember my friend in the gym. Perhaps we can all. Learn. Something.<\/p>\n

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