Yesterday I met Gary, a disabled man who was until recently, very "un-disabled." Gary is still young enough to work as he is in his mid-fifties, but he recently retired due to health reasons. Gary was an auto mechanic for 38 years. He knew everything about Ford vehicles. When another mechanic got flummoxed, Gary got the call -- and fixed the problem. He mentioned that he was on straight commission -- which I found interesting. He has a wall full of awards, took his wife on many company-paid trips around the world because he was so good at his profession.
Mule deer eating my garden
A few years ago, Gary had a knee replacement surgery. Unfortunately he got a very bad staph infection and the complications from that required another nine surgeries. He still has a few surgeries on the horizon too. To top that off, he had a freak event -- a pinch nerve behind his left ear -- that caused the left side of his face to be paralyzed. Gary's been through a lot of misfortune lately.
I met Gary because someone recommended him as a good person to work on my lawn mower. You see, Gary is fixing lawn mowers for people so that he can pay his medical bills and save up what he can for the future surgeries. He rolls the lawn mowers up on a motorcycle lift in his garage so he can sit down to work on them. What an amazing fellow he is!
A beautiful pollinator
As Gary was using the right side of his mouth to tell me his story, he paused to take a breath. I took that moment to say, "Man Gary, I'm so sorry!"
He did his best to smile with the working side of his face and replied, "Hey, you just have to take what life gives you and move forward. There are many folks who have worse problems than me. I'm not going to sit around and succumb to P.M.S. -- Pissing and Moaning Syndrome."
I remembered a wise mentor of mine talking about "lifters and leaners." Lifters work hard, they solve problems, provide opportunity for others and are very additive to society. Leaners are unmotivated, victims, complain about the lifters because they make more money and look outside of themselves for solutions. Gary is solidly on the lifter side of the ledger.
Never a day goes by that I find someone who has to deal with much more misfortune than me. I have no real reason to complain about anything.
If you open your eyes and ears, you'll see that you don't either.