#Reverb10 Wed. 12/8/10 - Beautifully Different

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Michelle Medina <michellem86@gmail.com>
Date: Wed, 15 Dec 2010 14:47:28 -0500
Subject: #Reverb10 Wed. 12/8/10 - Beautifully Different
To: michellem86@gmail.com

December 8 – Beautifully Different.
Think about what makes you different and what you do that lights
people up. Reflect on all the things that make you different – you'll
find they're what make you beautiful.

The biggest things that make me different are my cleft & my blindness.
Not because they 'make me different' in the usual way, but because if
I had been born with sight & without needing the 66
reconstructive surgeries I've had, I wouldn't be who I am today. My
humor would be not caustic & sarcastic, but something else. Now, my
humor does rove, it isn't simply those things, but those things
wouldn't be a part of my sense of humor if I hadn't had the
adversities I've had. If I had been sighted & born with perfect model
type features, maybe I would have been in the 'in crowd' & bullied
others instead of being part of the bullied. I may have been
judgmental of people's looks instead of judgmental of their actions. I
wouldn't be as understanding of other's with differences. I am not
perfect, nor do I claim to be, just different. My imperfection lies in
my inability to overcome my feelings about other blind people. Not all
of them, but I find myself thinking: 'No wonder other people think
we're helpless & screwed up!' when I see another blind person throwing
a toddler-like tantrum over not being able to buckle themselves in or
crying because they can't find their deodorant. My greatest strength
lies in understanding people with facial differences, or who have been
through traumatic things, who are addicted to drugs or have been
raped/molested or undergone some other severely traumatic experience.
If I hadn't been born this way, I don't believe I'd be that
understanding or that accepting.
I wouldn't be a humanitarian or love people/animals/the environment as
much as I do without my adversities. I don't believe I would have been
able to leave such an impression, make such a mark on other people if
I had been born with sight & without my cleft. My blindness & Tessier
cleft are what make me beautifully different, because I would not be
the person I am today if I had not been born with them.