Mobility is a State of Mind

NBC's the Today Show has been doing something out of the ordinary this week. They've stationed reporters in various parts of the world - the Equator, Antarctic and South Pole - who report from and banter with those at the main studio. Besides seeing Matt Lauer with the frosted beginnings of a beard, this has also led to such lines as:

"I wish I could send them some of my soup" (from the person doing the cooking segment)

and questions such as:

"which way does the water in the toilet bowl swirl at the equator?"

yet again proving that despite spending thousands of dollars and having fantastic resources at hand, there is nothing good that happens when programing lacks creative talent. These tidbits crop up as I'm starting my day, drinking my coffee, blogging and setting my work up and I think to myself how sad it is that they've gone to such great lengths to infuse some variety into the show and still can't make it happen.

I know from recent experience that it's not necessary to travel one bit in order to either entertain oneself (or others) . My mobility issues this past year have taught me, like they did when I was waiting for a ramp to go up, that mobility is a state of mind, not a destination.

Don't get me wrong - this is not an experience I'd go through willingly, nor do I recommend it. I think it's appalling that things are set up in such a way that delays, lack of enough affordable solutions and funding issues result in loss of mobility for so many people. But I also know from observing others that what I learned back in grammar school from one of the nuns who taught me still holds true.

One day in class a student griped about how hard the work was in parochial school and how he would prefer to go to public school like his brother so he didn't have so much homework. Sr. Ellen looked him right in the eye and said "If you spend your life wishing you were somewhere else, you'll miss the experience of what you can gain from where you are."

And so it is. I don't think Sr. Ellen is still around, but I thank her for those words because I've thought of them often recently. I wish I was somewhere else - anywhere else - on days. But I know that the experiences I am having from being where I am are worthwhile. I act on that belief.

I've concluded that mobility is a state of mind.