Blown Away

When we first created this blog, Kyle said he did not want to use it for political discussions or rants. However, Kyle and I are both on the same page about the Iraq war and since it is OUR blog, I feel the need to vent.

Let me start of by saying that I was against the Iraq war from the get go. Kyle on the other hand was not. I just never believed that there were any WMDs. My gut just told me that what the government was telling us wasn’t matching up. I also felt that Bush wanted to finish his father’s business and find a way to do away w/ Saddam. Anyway, I won’t write too much on the specifics of that but to bring everyone up to speed on our current views, we are both completely against the war and Kyle has been against the war for several years now. We both feel deceived and that we, the American people were brought into this war under false pretenses.

Ok, I’ll tie the Iraq war thoughts above in a little later but first I need to digress. Be patient my friends!! So last night there was NOTHING on TV. Before I turned the TV off I figured I’d check PBS first. I came across this documentary called, “So Much So Fast” about this 29 year old guy from MA that has ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. I was glued to the TV. My favorite book is Tuesday’s with Morrie and it is about a man who has ALS. I love the book not just because Morrie rocks but because he made a conscious decision to talk about the fact that he was dying. Morrie believed, as I do, that the subject of death is taboo in our culture and he wanted to change that. Anyway, read the book to learn more but my bud Morrie-the bottom line is that I learned more about ALS from the book and seeing Morrie on Ted Coppell’s show Nightline. On a side note, when I was in grad school they offered a course on death and dying and they showed the 3 Nightline shows that Morrie was on. So, I watched this documentary last night and it was amazing. This young guy, Stephen was diagnosed with early onset ALS and his two brothers and family started a foundation to find a cure for ALS. Unfortunately, Stephen died in 2006 and there is still no cure for the devastating disease. The documentary was just sooooo moving and I was left w/ this strong sense of what people can do when they feel passionate about something. Stephen’s family raised millions of dollars in the hopes of curing ALS and really brought a great deal of education to the subject of ALS. Anyway, if you have time check out this documentary as you can watch it online. It is well worth your time. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/somuchsofast/view/

So, even though I wanted to tell you all about Stephen and the documentary b/c I was so incredibly moved by it, that is actually not what I’m posting about. I called my mom this morning to tell her about this documentary b/c my mom is a huge PBS fan and it is basically all she watches. Whenever I see something on PBS that I absolutely love I have to call my mom to see if she’s seen it too so we can discuss it. Our conversations typically go something like this”

“Hi Mom, Oh My Gosh, Did you see Frontline last night?”
“Yes, Cait wasn’t it unbelievable?”

My mom gets so excited when one of her kids watches PBS. My sister Maura and she share the bond of PBS mysteries. Don’t even think about calling one of them when a British PBS mystery series is on. Ok, anyway my mom didn’t see, “So Much So Fast” she saw another amazing show on Bill Moyers, which was on before my documentary. My mom raved so much about her show that I decided to log onto PBS and watch it. http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/05302008/profile2.html

Ok, in a nutshell here is what it is about:

A 24 year old man from Kansas City signs up for the Army, 3 days after 9/11. He was shot and paralyzed less than a week into his tour of duty. They decided to make a documentary film called “Body of War” about his experience. Three years in the making, BODY OF WAR tells the poignant tale of the young man's journey from joining the service after 9/11 to fight in Afghanistan, to living with devastating wounds after being deployed to Iraq instead. Here is the link to the movie trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1HZuQkITY64

I can’t wait to see the movie. I urge all of you to click on the link above and watch the Bill Moyer’s show about this veteran and the making of the movie about him. I watched it this afternoon and I am just speechless. As a person with a physical disability, specifically paralysis, I understand what this veteran goes through on a daily basis. It is hard enough to adjust to a permanent disability but when that disability was essentially caused because our government lied us into a war that we should not have gotten into in the first place, it just infuriates me to know end.

I am very aware of the steps towards accepting one’s disability. The firm touches on this because the individual followed was injured in Iraq and has to come home and come to terms w/ his disability. Regarding my own situation, I think it was easier for me to accept that I was permanently disabled b/c I owned up to my own responsibility. I was a young kid that was drinking when I should not have been. I don’t think I’m totally unique in that I drank too much before I was 21, but I have to accept responsibility for my actions and I believe I’ve done that. The bottom line is, if I was sober I most likely would not have wound up paralyzed but who’s to say it wasn’t in God’s plan and that it may have just happened at another time? I’ll never know. What I do know is that I’m dealing with the cards I was dealt and with time I’ve learned to accept my hand. After my accident, I also felt so lucky to be alive. When you come so close to death you learn to appreciate life more deeply. I have always felt that I would rather be alive w/ a disability than dead. Like Dana Reeve said to Christopher when he was first injured, “You are still you.” So, those of us with spinal cord injuries all have our stories. Some were completely innocent bystanders and some weren’t. But when your government sends you to war under false pretenses and you come back permanently disabled, that just isn’t right. I know life isn’t fair. Believe me, I know that. I just am utterly speechless after watching this video. I also LOVE the Eddie Vedder song “NO More” that was written for this documentary. You can hear it on this site: http://www.bodyofwarmusic.com/

The lyrics are just so powerful. Also check out the guys wheels on his wheelchair and notice how the axles are a peace sign. Pretty cool and symbolic at the same time.

I know that the majority of Americans are against the war. I don’t want to get into a political discussion about IRAQ. I do want people to realize that among the 3,000 plus deaths we’ve had in IRAQ & Afghanistan we’ve had about 8 times the number of injuries i.e. traumatic brain injuries, amputations and spinal cord injuries to name a few. We don’t hear much about the disabled vets coming back and there certainly are an over abundance of them.

I really hope this post will convince at least a couple of our loyal readers to watch the Bill Moyers show (linked above) and even go a step further and go see Body of War. It isn’t playing near me but I noticed it is coming to Athens, GA so all my bulldog pals, go see it!!!

Words can’t express how much this show moved me. Perhaps it is because I know how hard it is to live life w/ paralysis. I have always said that I wished I was the last person to sustain a spinal cord injury b/c it is such a hard and traumatic thing to overcome and it is so painfully hard on families as well. I’m not sure that I’m articulating my feelings as well as I wish. Please watch the clip and it will at least give you a small bit of insight into the destruction that this war has caused. Thanks guys!