Setting A Good Example

I went to see a movie this afternoon at a little art house theater in Edina, a Minneapolis suburb where everyone is wealthier and prettier than me. Lots of other people must have had the same idea because the ticket line stretched across a whole block. My friend and my nurse were gently goading me to use my gimp status to cut ahead in line so that we could escape the biting cold, but I was having none of it. There is a time and place to play the cripple card, but with great power comes great responsibility. Sure, I could have probably spared myself the numb hands and partially frozen lips, but everyone in that line would have thought I (and by implication, every other person in a wheelchair) was a total wuss and I won’t be responsible for perpetuating such insidious stereotypes. Of course, I am a wuss, but only when nobody is watching.