disability - charity

   On Thursday night of this week ( I Ho Chuan class), I "tweaked" my shoulder. I don't know how I did it. I didn't think anything of it at the time till I woke up Friday morning. WOW! I haven't felt pain like that in a long time. I couldn't lift my arm without searing pain and there was absolutely no strength. Being a bullheaded male, I carried on with my day and like nothing was wrong, or at least I tried to. Big mistake! By Friday night I was worse than ever. I have had shoulder injuries before similar to this so I grabbed my trusty shoulder sling and figured I would give it a few days and see how it felt. By Saturday morning I was exhausted from 0 sleep the night before ( sorry wife ), and my shoulder seemed to be sharing its pain with other body parts, that's me - I love to share. I cinched down my shoulder sling, took some Tylenol, and promised myself I would try to take it easy on my arm ever though I had a ton of things I needed to get done. Going about my day with my arm in a sling was difficult to say the least and it got me to wondering.....

  Disability. I have 1 appendage that is not working properly. So what. I know it will get better. I still have the rest of my body functioning properly. My thought on this was.....

  What if this was a permanent condition? How would my life change if I lost the use of my arm?
How do other people cope with a major change like that in their life? Is this sympathy or empathy I am feeling? 

  This has been a bit of an eye opener towards disability and the way I react to people who have a disability. To be on the other end of a disability and rely on other people to help me is humbling. Having to ask for help was actually a little embarrassing at times. I felt like I was imposing on people at times and I was constantly explaining my injury so people didn't think I was lazy. I had never imaging what this would be like if it was permanent.

  Well I am very glad to say that my shoulder has seemed to be repairing itself and I can get back to being my annoying self.

  BUT, this experience has made me feel restless towards our charities. Part of our requirements in the I Ho Chuan is to raise awareness and money for our charities. With the school not doing Pandamonium or the Tiger Challenge this year, how are we going to make up the gap in fund raising? I can only guess as to how much money and awareness those 2 events have raised in the past, but I imagine it was a lot! This is my 1st year in the I Ho Chuan, so maybe there is a plan in place that I am unaware of but I would like to raise the question anyways. I am 100% willing to do my bit and more, but at what I don't know.

  What is our plan for fundraising this year? Should we get together as a team and brainstorm? What have we done in previous years? Maybe I am jumping the gun but I would rather ask now than down the road and miss out on an opportunity that may be ripe for the picking.

  Any thoughts fellow PIGS?


Numbers...

Faltered a little with illness and an injury but here they are anyways

Sit ups  11544/50000 23%
Push ups  11675/50000 23%
Sparring  122/1000  12%
1609km  542.35km/1609km  33.7%
AOK  317/1000  31.7/5
Hand form 86/1000 - ouch!  9%
Weapon form 142/1000  14%
Amount of year gone 19% - time flies!!
Personal requirements moving along nicely