JUDGING A BOOK BY ITS COVER

I was at the supermarket today and as I pushed my shopping cart up to one of only two checkout lanes staffed by a cashier, I noticed that the man behind the counter was extremely tall.

I immediately reflected,

“Let’s see, you’d be about 6’6”.”

To which the cashier responded,

“Almost. I’m 6’7”.”

With this, I continued the dialogue.

“I bet you get weary with people asking you, ‘How’s the weather up there.’”

“Jim” smiled a wearisome smile, and nodded his head.

By this time he had finished tabulating my bill, I ‘zipped’ my card, and he proceeded to wait on the next customer. As my bag girl placed my bananas in a plastic bag, and reached for a carton of fried chicken I mused,

“And no doubt, people ask him, ‘Did you play basketball in high school or college?’”

It was the young lady’s turn to smile, and she responded with,

“Yep. Someone asked him that a few minutes ago.”

And though the previous experience was, I think, relatively benign for all concerned, (especially the bag girl and me), upon reflection it occurs to me that as human beings we tend to characterize people according to their physical, mental and emotional attributes.

Pt. 2

I mean, in terms of the young cashier I found myself asking him whether he’d often heard the, “How’s the weather up there?” question, (and) followed by, “How tall are you anyway?” (and) “Did you play basketball in high school or college?”

I can only imagine how ‘old’ such characterizations must be to a tall person. It’s possible that the young man never had any aspirations to play basketball, but ‘went out’ for the wrestling or weight-lifting team; (or simply opted for the debate team).

And as seemingly benign, in this case, as my questions and characterization were, I can imagine that in too many cases such characterizations are anything but.

I think we’ve all ‘been there.’

The young man with Down’s Syndrome.

I think anyone prone to admit it might volunteer that he or she has avoided speaking to him; lest he lack the wherewithal to properly process language, and respond in kind.

However…

It is well established that many persons with this genetic disorder are both verbal and intelligent, (and extraordinarily personable) and some have even gone on to complete a college degree.

Then there’s the poor, unfortunate wounded warrior.

She is missing a leg and her face is marred by the scars of an improvised explosive device. We see her exiting the back of her van, lowering the lift and motoring herself through the supermarket parking lot.

And while we can’t help but be thankful for her service, our expectations of this dear young lady are, admittedly, minimal. She will never marry. She will never have children. She will be dependent upon others the rest of her natural life.

However, the next time we see the lady vet is at a 5K race. (And she’s NOT an observer)! Au Contraire. As we look over the field of runners, we see her and several other wounded warriors at the ‘back of the pack’ preparing to run the race. But something is different than when we last saw her; just months before. She is wearing a prosthetic limb… and a captivating smile. As the official raises his pistol, cheers erupt from the sideline, and we notice two small children waving, and their father screams out his wife’s name.

“Julie!”

The wounded warrior who wears the new prosthetic limb returns her children’s gesture, and absolutely beams. And then they’re off, and a hundred runners begin their arduous trek; including… Julie.

Pt. 3

Among the multiplied hundreds of books I have read in my 2/3 of a century on this planet is one in particular.

“Jane Eyre.”

And among the hundreds of lines of text in this book one in particular provokes me the most. As Jane, the governess interacts with her employer, badly burned in a manor fire, she encourages him with,

“(Mr. Rochester) your wounds are sad to behold, but you are NOT your wounds.”

Her implication? Many of those around us bear the physical and emotional scars with which life has inflicted them, but they are NOT their wounds. Their wounds simply do not characterize who they are, nor what they are ultimately capable of achieving. 

By William McDonald, PhD. Excerpt from "(Mc)Donald's Daily Diary" Vol. 52. Copyright pending

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