Month: June 2013

I haven’t posted in a while, life has been hectic… Tonight I had to make time to post, as I have a few things on my mind that I really feel need to be addressed.

 

We have soldiers from the military coming home as Wounded Warriors.. Some are amputees, some have PTSD, but they all have been changed due to the ravages of war. We recently had a bombing at the Boston Marathon that left several dead, hundreds injured, and many of those injured became new amputees.

 

Now, according to all the regular ol’ amputees out there in this country, it is unfair that these highly publicized wounded warriors and bombing victims are getting brand new state of the art equipment and prosthetics. Amputees over on the ACA facebook page are — for lack of a better word — whining because they can’t have what these new amputees are getting. (thread is here)

 

Personally, I feel this is deplorable behavior from my fellow amputees. How must our veterans (or bombing victims) feel if they were to read one of these threads? To go online to find support from people who have been there only to find that they are being ridiculed and complained about because they have something “better?” How would you feel?

 

Pretty damned horrible, I would imagine.

 

The problem I am finding after reading so many of these venomous posts is that everyone likes to complain and throw stones, but no one wants to advocate for themselves! How do you expect to get ANYTHING if you wont push for it? No one is going to hand you the best of the best just because you sit there and look pitiful… fight for what you want.. Or shut your whiny-ass mouth.

 

How dare anyone begrudge another human being having their life made better?

 

Would you begrudge your neighbor if they won the lottery? Would you tell them that they don’t deserve it? Would you cry because it is unfair that you didn’t get a winning lottery ticket as well? Yea, I thought not.

 

The bottom line here is that you must advocate for yourself, because the chances of the media picking up your story is very low. You can sit at home and be mad that a soldier who stepped on an IED and had both legs blown off got brand new microprocessor knees… Or you can start talking to your prosthetist… you congressman… Your senator… Hell, the ACA and other groups will help you get better equipment if you would just get off your hind end and fill out the proper forms and make the right phone calls…

 

Stop waiting to win the Prosthetic Lottery… And stop crying every time someone else does win it. In the end, we are all amputees… and right now your whiny-ass has made me ashamed to be associated with you.