Christy Brown

 

POINT TO PONDER
 
Life is not always what one wants it to be, but to make the best of it as it is, is the only way of being happy.  -Jennie Jerome Churchill
 
 
STORYLINE by Rajiv Shah
 
Christy Brown was born with cerebral palsy in Dublin, Ireland. Stricken with the inability to move anything in his body but his left foot, Christy was considered an invalid at an early age. Trapped within his own body and with others believing him to be retarded, Christy grew up an angry and frustrated young man.

At the age of five Christy shocked his family by grabbing a piece of chalk and attempting to write with his one functioning limb, his left foot. His mother believed that Christy was capable of more communication than his condition or doctors suggested and began to teach Christy how to read and write.

Into his teens, Brown began to paint and write with a typewriter, using only his toes to stab at the keyboard in order to express what was lodged in his fertile mind. His first novel, “My Left Foot” was published in 1954 and is based on his experiences with the debilitating disease.

Christy's problems were not solved with the publishing of his novel and critics often observed that Brown's novels were over-written. Partly, that was due to the immense number of hours it took Christy to write a draft of a novel, not to mention to read it and then redraft it using only his foot. Christy persevered and continued to express the pain and sadness he endured.

The criticism continued well into his career and his fourth novel, “Wild Grow the Lillies,” was an escape for Christy. The novel featured a young, good looking writer who had mobility of his own body as its central character. It would be the first novel of its type, as Christy's work was usually about his own impediment. As if living through his own creation, Christy expressed life as he fantasized it in an able bodied man: the attention, the women, and fortunes this type of man must surely could have, a life that he himself did not. The critics crucified it, claiming that this was his first novel lean on language but plentiful in clichés. It was a life Christy didn't know and the critics skewered him for it claiming the work was false and misdirected.

Christy Brown died on September 7th, 1981. Family and friends acknowledge the pain and frustration but also recall that Christy was a happy and gregarious man despite his condition.
 

REFLECTION
 
I used the example of Christy Brown this week because our cultures seeks to justify pain and struggle with the promise of accomplishments and accolades that we hope will follow it. Often, as in Christy's case, struggle always persists, in his condition and the criticism of his work. Often we are trapped within our own minds with doubt, fear, and sadness. Imagine what that must have been like for Brown as he experienced a prison of his body as well. The majority of us are blessed to not have to know this type of obstacle.

How we perceive struggle and our place within it will help to alleviate the hardships that inevitably arrive. Looking to the person next to you and realizing that we all struggle with our own issues will help you turn those disappointments into something positive, even if no one else notices but you.

Comments

[ST]

We all have thousands of opportunities every single day to help realize the 'natural order of things.'

So many seemingly trivial interactions between two people present us with a choice:

Do we pass along a little spark of love and humanity or do we pass up those opportunities and leave the world a little bit colder in the process?

A wise man once said every society is judged by how it treats it's least fortunate amongst them.

[California Guy]

Like a plant, we cannot choose our initial location in this universe nor our initial path towards maturity. However, unlike a plant, humans have the capability to extend themselves beyond their original environment and living conditions through the enormous power of the mind through the power of learning and choice. It all starts with a willingness to tap into this enormous power within ourselves.

I recall hearing an interview on the radio the other day about how this one person said that he consciously tries to smile at people, even those who provide bad service. He said that smiling uses the same amount of energy as frowning, but smiling has the added benefit of helping him maintain a positive mood for the remainder of the day. I can easily imagine that many similar choices during the course of a given day can have exponential positive effective at the end of the day - a cascade or domino effect.

[Saleem]

Wonderful picture for the story and a great story,