Disability is not inability

At campus, I attended “poetry night”, a weekly session that brought together poetry lovers. Every poet who stepped on the podium did the best they could; some of the lines in the poems were really stirring and would make one sad, happy, laugh or cry.After an hour of poetry presentations, the MC announced that there would be a music presentation as the interlude from a one Jennifer. Jennifer humbly walked up the platform (guitar in hand) and took a seat. Not long after, her expertise drowned us in a world of ease, sweetness and relaxation. She wasn’t done yet. The impressive melody was followed by a sweet and silky voice. I held my breath so I could capture every split-second, and the blend was slowly carrying me into another world. My soul felt peaceful---for a moment I pictured myself sailing on a calm and vast ocean on a yatch, somewhere in the Caribbean. I unconsciously found myself nodding and stamping the ground in unison. When the music came to an end, I was disappointed. It was like waking up from sweet dream.There was thunderous applause thereafter. Many people including myself didn’t think it was enough, so we strolled forward to shake hands with the performer in appreciation. When I gripped her right hand, something was missing. I drew my eyes closer for inspection and guess what, she only had two fingers; the other two and a thumb were missing! I walked back to my seat in shock but utterly inspired, many questions rocked my head like: Why did this happen to her? How could she put up such a splendid performance with that kind of handicap? I did not pay attention to the rounds of poetry that followed because I was so absorbed in finding answers to the million questions that now bothered me.The following day I found her down at the court, battling her opponents fiercely at basketball. I spent an hour watching her in amazement and admiration .She was a true inspiration, she did many things physically able people could not do.At the end of the match, I had a brief chat with her. It is here that I learnt that she sustained the handicap after getting involved in a horrible car accident six years back. On inquiring about how she managed to do all those amazing things with a crippled hand, she replied, “anything is possible as long as you still have life”.I left for my hostel head high, convinced that anything could be achieved or done regardless of the limitations, what matters is attitude and zeal.