Working Up

by Dwayne Phillips

Sometimes we meet someone who lacks the ability to do something. How do we react?

As I write this post, I am having one of those weeks when I have the inability to do something simple. For some reason, I woke one day this week with a sore left knee. The next day, that knee was swollen and it hurt like the dickens to bend it. I could not put a sock on my left foot without tears of pain rolling down my face. Tying the shoelace on the left shoe was unthinkable.

I had an inability.

Go to work. See someone hobble in on crutches, and we immediately offer to carry their cup of coffee for them. Of course we do; that is how a nice person reacts when another person has an inability. Right?

And then I see someone who cannot write the first sentence they are supposed to write. Do I immediately grab another one of their jobs so they can concentrate on that one sentence? Do I immediately offer to work around their inability? Well, uh, er…

Too often I scoff or complain or something. Would I complain if they hobbled in on crutches after a weekend auto accident? Of course not. But in this case…

We all have inabilities from time to time. I see inabilities in others. How do I react? I can do better. We all can.