Participate

I watched a great documentary last night by the PBS series Independent Lens called "MAPPING STEM CELL RESEARCH: Terra Incognita".

What I found so interesting was how the two girls profiled that both had spinal cord injuries and fathers that were doctors, each girl had accepted their injury and their deficits, but each father had not.

One girl's father was the research neurologist that was on this quest to find a cure for his daughter's injury. He was passionate about his research and fully dedicated to finding a cure.

His daughter, on the other hand, had fully accepted her injury and had basically moved on. She was active in college activities and fully participating in life.

Perhaps if the father realized that the time he was spending in the lab looking for the elusive "cure" was taking away from the time he could be spending with his family and his daughter, he could participate more in life... just like his daughter was already doing.

I think searching for a "cure" is great, but not if it causes the disabled to spend their lives waiting for it.

Be realistic. Don't wait, participate.

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