[nfbwatlk] the power of words

[Nfbnorthwest at aol.com]

I have to add also; I got a C- in the first term of general chemistry but  
do I just give up? No. I keep going; I suffered a back injury and may 
require  surgery; I still don't quit. I maybe down but I'm not out. 
 
Sometimes becoming a doctor or following any dream is the hardest challenge 
 of life. But isn't life suppose to be challenging?
 
I have a friend of mine in Georgia who is using the Life Alert program  
(wearing the pendant)  and using meals on wheels just because she is blind.  
She was trying to encourage me to do the same. Several people had asked me if 
I  had a caregiver to clean the house? I'm injured not helpless. 
 
I can't walk too well, but I can walk. It makes me think about what being  
blind is all about. I know that I will recover from my back injury in time. 
It  is really sad when some blind people don't follow dreams or let life 
challenge  them. 
 
Lisa Owen
 
 
In a message dated 3/26/2010 2:20:07 P.M. Pacific Daylight Time,  
gabias at telus.net writes:

The word  "striving" has some of the same problems as the word "trying." 
Both
imply  permission to fail.
We rarely get more from life than we genuinely expect.  The question for
each of us is what our level of expectation should be.  
I might say that my child should be getting straight A's. In that case,  
does
the occasional B make my child a failure? On the other hand, if I tell  my
child that C minus is fine, what are my child's chances of excelling  at
school? 
We all know people who have set expectations for themselves  far higher than
the expectations of their families and schools. They have  not only had to
work to reach the levels they expected of themselves; they  also had to
overcome the burden placed on them by the low expectations of  others.
We all also know people who could never enjoy success because their  own
expectations were so high that nothing they ever could do would  be
satisfactory in their own minds.
Although both extremes are  destructive, I tend to agree with Noel that our
words shouldn't proclaim  limitations or offer excuses.
As for the question of people of differing  abilities, supported living 
might
be a lofty goal for some students. For  them, living in a group home and
working at a job with ongoing support is  as much to be celebrated as a 
Ph.D.
in biochemistry would be for another  student. The problems arise when the
student who could achieve a Ph.D. is  steered toward a group home or the
student who could best serve the world  from a group home is not fully
respected.
We ask the school, and I  believe we have a right to expect it, to know how
to set the dream for each  student accurately  high.
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