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Christmas Eve 2006
Afternoon Warriors.
I just wanted to take a moment and wish you all well. This has been a hard year for many of us and for the newly diagnoses for sure. We wonder if we will ever feel like our old selves again. If we will have the energy to motivate and do things like we used to do.
Well the short answer is yes. Sometimes it takes a change of mindset to look at ourselves differently. Other times we need to back off or our old hectic schedules and let things be. Hard to do for “type A” personalities but it can be done.
This Christmas my gift to you is a poem I wrote a number of years ago and it is published in my book of Native American poetry and short stories “The Red Man In Me” It is called the gift. I have accepted my gift from the Creator.
The GiftThe Great Spirit said, “I am going to give you a tremendous gift.”
“I hope I am worthy of this gift,” I replied
The Great Spirit said he would inflict me with a disease“Disease as a gift?” I asked. I could not fathom illness as a gift
“What you do with this gift depends on you,” he said
“You can treat it as a curse or accept it for what it is
You can lament or make the best of it. It is up to you
What you do and how you act will prove if you are a Warrior”He struck me with Polio and paralyzed my legs
Doctors said I would never walk again
But I did. I learned to walk and run
I thank the Great Spirit every dayHe taught me that those without legs are worthy
He struck me with Graves’ disease
Life was pure hell for a few years
Loss of memory, pain, and tremors
But I got betterI learned that by helping others with Graves’
I could help to heal myself
I learned that helping others is a worthy cause
I learned I had the strength to keep goingEven when I had no strength left
I learned that as bad off as I felt there was another
Who was worse off than I who I could help?I learned that instead of reaching for a helping hand
I had become the hand that was reached for
Instead of being in the abyss I was on the edge
Helping others out of the voidThe Great Spirit said, “I will take your vision”
My eyes bulged and pained
Vision started to dim and colors were lost
My eyes went askew and looked in different directions
But I got betterSixteen eye surgeries
Much pain and discomfort
Orbital Radiation on my eyes left me with cataracts
But I got better.I learned that even with no sight I was worthy
I saw with my mind what my eyes could no longer
I learned that by helping others with eye problems
I helped myselfI am a Warrior. I no longer look at a person the same
I see what is inside them not the shell of the body
Instead of seeing a person in a wheelchair
I see a person who was given a giftI see the Great Spirit gave them a gift too
I admire their strength
I admire their courage
I admire their willI pay homage to a fellow Warrior as we pass by
I thank the Great Spirit for these gifts
For they made me the man I have becomeMerry Christmas and Happy Holidays to you all. You all are treasures I hold against my heart when I sit and count my blessings.
Jake George
NGDF FacilitatorJust wanted to start my day by wishing all of you a Merry Christmas. I consider you all “family” as you accept and understand how I’m feeling and encourage me when I need it. I am not doing Christmas at my house this year. I’m just not up to it. Sometimes I feel my children really don’t understand or accept what I’m going through, but I know I have to take care of me right now.
Merry Christmas to all and thanks for the poem Jake.
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