For the Love of Long Shots: A Memoir on Democracy by Shawn Casey O'Brien

Author:Shawn Casey O'Brien [O'Brien, Shawn Casey]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: memoir, disability, democracy, politics, voting
Publisher: Pumpkin Seed Publishing
Published: 2015-01-29T22:00:00+00:00

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Paul was a local member of Toastmasters. He told me he enjoyed the camaraderie of other witty people and looked forward to helping the "less verbose, those of a quieter wit than you and me."

This got us to onto the subject of public speaking, which, as we know, some people equate with death.

"Some find it worse than that," Paul would say. Having contemplated both comedy and death, I gave his opinion a lot of weight, as well as his guts. I've had a policy all my life that when it comes to dealing with other people's disability, I followed their lead...just like in organizing.

If they want to talk about their own disability, I am happy to oblige. You find out a lot about people through how they handle their particular situation. You tend to appreciate both the ingenuity and adaptability of the basic person, as well as what they share with you.

However, if they wish not to say a peep about their condition, then so be it. Lots of people with disabilities not only have transcended their situations, but have transcended the need to talk about them as well.

For many it's such a constant part of life that it takes on a mundane everydayness, it is "just part of life." No matter what rigmarole you have to go through to put on your pants and have your breakfast, after a while the sameness of the routine, like all routines, defies pondering -- it just is.

Others don't talk about it because they really do have other things to talk about. They have lives to lead that are full and rich outside of disability. They have work, hobbies, and talents that make them very good chess players, musicians, comedians, and organizers, outside of their disability.

These talents have little, if anything, to do with their disability. Broken or unbroken, straight or crooked, these people would become what they have become, simply because they must. Just as Paul had to leave his job as a designer at some aerospace joint out in the desert and become what he must, a comedian.

Some people don't talk about their disability because they have other things to do -- becoming what they must become -- in order to live up to their full potential. But also, some people are just brave.

Paul was very brave. No doubt about it, as MS doesn't go away until it takes you with it. Some said that his jokes and his devil-may-care attitude were defense mechanisms. Perhaps they were, but they were damn good ones, and it kept the rest of us laughing and doing necessarily bold things.

Death? Death be damned.

Paul would rather tell you about the Jello squid he just sent some boyhood friend through the mail. A very real, very dead, squid...sent overnight delivery. No shit.

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