(opinion article)

In today’s world, there are many problems that require immediate solutions. Unfortunately, we can’t do several types of work at once like Julius Caesar. Every year, diseases as well as their social variants, are progressing, and humanity has not been able to solve these problems so far.

It seemed that people are aware of the complexity of treatment and rehabilitation, and therefore they should be tactful and show, at least, a modicum of sympathy and understanding, but it only seems at first glance… This applies to people of any age and status.

As an example, I can give this story. At the time, I was diagnosed with a brain tumor. The rehabilitation was difficult and very long. An unpleasant incident occurred when I was on my way to another examination. The bus was completely packed with people, and when there was an empty seat, I immediately took it, because I knew that at any moment I could lose consciousness. I felt bad that morning. All was well until an elderly woman came in at one of the bus stops. I always gave way to older people, but I knew that at that moment I couldn’t do it. And as you may have guessed, all the way I listened to a lecture about what kind of uneducated young people were now, to which I replied, ” Do forgive me, I do not feel well. I would gladly give you this place, but I am very sick and dizzy.” The rest of the road, I listened to the stories about young people, who knew nothing about real pains and illnessess, being wet behind the ears. And if we had drunk less alcohol, we would have not looked as miserable as I was at that moment.

One day, while going on the trolley, I heard a conversation between teenagers, while they were discussing their plans for the weekend. One of the guys asked, “Are we going to tell Andrew about our plans?” His cheery companion replied, “No, he has just turned into a disabled freak.” After these words, the entire group of so-called ‘friends’ started laughing.

I don’t know this guy’s story, what happened to him and why, but I realized one truth. People don’t understand how you feel when your life suddenly changes or even interrupts… They do not understand that regardless of age, status, and lifestyle, you can get sick sometimes even from an incurable disease. It is at such moments your life is divided into “Before” and “After”.

In general, the lack of sympathy and compassion in our ‘rat race’ society is very upsetting. Many people live by the principle that his or her ‘house is on the edge’ and it happens ‘not in his or her backyard’. They think that “this will never happen to us.”

And from my own experience, I want to say that absolutely no one is immune from the fact that one morning they may wake up and realize that they need to fight for their lives with a disease that takes human lives day in and day out. What do I want to say at the conclusion? If you wake up in a healthy body and healthy mind, be happy. Some people failed to do it that morning…