A Matter of Perspective

It was back in the late seventies/early eighties when I worked in center city as a secretary back in the day. I was deeply immersed in studying and practicing a philosophy called: A Course of Miracles. At the time I had to make a daily commute to go into the city to perform my work responsibilities. I had to travel into center city by commuter train to get off at a train station at Sixteenth Street in Philadelphia.

On one cold morning in winter, I had to climb down some steps in Suburban Station, and as I did so, I noticed a woman on crutches getting ready to climb down the steps ahead of me. It appeared as if this woman had some form of cerebral palsy. I wanted to go over to her to ask her if she needed assistance, but I felt as if I was being held back. I as if Gold was asking me to do something else. I was asked to put my consciousness into the form of this woman and then to pull myself out so that I could determine what was really going on. And so without thinking about it, that's just exactly what I did. I climbed into her and felt something far different than what I had originally imagined she would be feeling from an emotional standpoint. I "got" the feeling that she was proud that she had the capacity and the ability to climb down those steps without any assistance from passers by. That was such an "ah ha" moment for me because I thought initially she was to be pitied. After I had climbed out, I felt only pride and joy for her in what she was able to accomplish. And I learned that I must never again judge people who have disabilities as individuals who needed to be pitied. I realized that such souls are courageous, and that they are teachers that are here to help us to understand how it is possible to overcome any physical limitations we may have.