I have to say that both Ben and Emma
reminded me of myself although in completely different ways but not
through so much their character but because of their physical
troubles. I have to say that there hasn't been many times that I
have had anything all that much in common with the hero of a story
but frankly, Ben is the one I identified with the most.
With Emma and her clumsiness, I have to
wonder how much of her clumsiness is truly because she is not paying
enough attention and how much of it is an unconscious
self-fulfillment of her belief that she is a klutz. Also her
tripping over some of the simplest things like roots, uneven ground
and small rocks, I wonder how much of that is because she is truly
clumsy and how much it could be something else. Though Ms.
Beckstrand might not realize it, but she was describing a pretty mild
case of Charcot-Marie-Tooth, for I see Emma in me when I was much
younger and my Charcot-Marie-Tooth was in it earlier stages. Even to
this day I could trip over a pebble in the middle of the road, uneven
ground gets me all the time too. The humor that Emma uses when she
finds herself in the middle of something that could be embarrassing
is a tool that I use myself on a regular basis. I often joke that I
am the ground tester when I fall, for I test to see how hard or soft
the ground is.
Ben, now here is a man who really had
me wondering what was going on. I am not going to go into what is
Ben's problem, for wow I sure didn't see that coming at all.
Something that I will talk about is what he was experiencing as far
as the numbness, tingling, and weakness in his legs, those are things
I deal with on almost daily basis. My Charcot-Marie-Tooth is very
similar to what Ben is dealing with. I felt so bad when Ben's truth
came out that my heart broke for him, for it just didn't seem fair in
the slightest. Some people might not understand the last scene with
Ben being so thrilled but I relived it, well at least in the joy of
the truth being out there. I don't have the same thing as Ben but
the joy of knowing the truth is something that no matter how bad it
might sound to some, is sweet sounding to another because the truth
does set one free.
So that is how I saw myself in both
characters, clumsiness and humor with Emma; numbness, tingling in
limbs and weakness in legs with Ben. I have to say that I think that
Ms. Beckstrand really did her research on Ben's illness for
everything was there but really those same symptoms could describe so
many different illnesses. She laid out those bread crumbs to where
one will see that something is wrong, but not completely sure what is
the problem exactly for those symptoms could describe any number of
illnesses, while not being able to pinpoint anything down until the
truth is revealed.
For more information on Charcot-Marie-Tooth.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Thank You for your Comment