Maris Being a Crippled

Kelnisha Castille

Mrs. Jackson

English 101 - Mairs Journal #1

15 June 2016

            Maris has a complicated relationship to her disease, multiple sclerosis. Her relationship is complicated because she hasn’t always been “cripple”, so she knows the feeling of having total control of her life. Going from being fully capable of something, to not being able to do much on your own is a huge adjustment for not only Mairs but also everyone else. Throughout the text Mairs gives readers an insight of the struggles she faces while being a cripple.

Mairs states, “To be a whole of limb is, I know from experience, infinitely more pleasant and useful than to be crippled” (54). By stating this, it shows that Mairs realizes that not much is what it used to be and if she realized this long time ago she would have handled certain situations better. During this moment Mairs reminisces on her high school athletic career even though she wasn’t as great at sports. She wishes she would have gave it her all when she was fully capable of it. While stating this she begins to sound bitter about her past situations, and if she had known this in the past she wouldn’t have been as bitter as she is.

            Around the age of 28 Mairs found out she had MS. In the text she states “Everyday for the past nearly ten years, then, has been a kind of gift, I accept all gifts”(54). By her stating this, this shows readers that Mairs was open minded to the fact that she could possibly die soon but also did not dread the life she was living. Although the disease came with many cons such as lost of vision, hearing, speech, the ability to walk and much more, Mairs did not let these things define who she truly was internally.

As MS started to gain time on her she started to realize how much harder things actually were when not being fully able. She relies on her husband and children for support to walk. Also she relies on her children to do things that she is no longer capable of such as laundry, dusting furniture, vacuuming floors, cooking and much more. At moments like these in her life she reminisces on these times when she realizes she isn’t able to do things that she used to be able to do due to MS.

            Being looked at differently and being treated differently by people of society isn’t a good feeling at all. Mairs states many of times that people would look at her and do extra nice things for her being that she was cripple. It is good to treat those with disabilities as one of us but at the same time don’t make it as obvious to the point where they realize what is going on. Before MS Mairs was looked at as a regular woman but now since MS, she gets all kind of looks from many different people by just being who she truly is.