“It was not the privileged and the fortunate who took in the Jews in France. It was the marginal and damaged, which should remind us that there are real limits to what evil and misfortune can accomplish. If you take away the gift of reading, you create the gift of listening. If you bomb a city, you leave behind death and destruction. But you create a community of remote misses. If you take away a mother or a father, you cause suffering and despair. But one time in ten, out of that despair rises as indomitable force. You see the giant and the shepherd in the Valley of Elah and your eye is drawn to the man with sword and shield and the glittering armor. But so much of what is beautiful and valuable in the world comes from the shepherd, who has more strength and purpose than we ever imagine.” ― Malcolm Gladwell, David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants

It’s 12  : 13 PM on day 1263 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to pray, go back to sleep – this morning I woke up at 2 AM I tend to wake up early when my stomach doesn’t do what it’s supposed to thankfully I feel much better now and should be able to get a good night’s sleep tonight truth-be-told the digestive issues that come with having Cerebral Palsy bothers me more than not being able to walk does –  brush my teeth,  read Esther 7,  publish my Disability of the Day feature,   stretch my hamstrings, practice sitting up straight to strengthen my core muscles, feed myself egg with bread for breakfast,   and  promote my Eradicate AIDS campaign – nobody donated so far today I think I know what I’m doing wrong I keep asking people who I know have money to donate assuming they would gladly help me out because they do have money what I should be doing is asking people who share my beliefs to make donations because even if they don’t have the money they’ll find a way to make money to make our dream of an AIDS free future a reality – and spend time outside – it’s a beautiful blue sky day where I live I wish every day was like this but if it was like this every day I probably wouldn’t appreciate it as much as I do.

Yesterday I finally finished reading David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants by Malcolm Gladwell in this book Malcolm tells us that the things we sometimes see as disadvantages, like disability, are advantages and the things we sometimes see as advantages, like being born to wealthy parents, are disadvantages and he goes on to explain why people we perceive to have the advantage sometimes fail spectacularly.