An Amazing Woman

Nancy Mair’s essay “On Being a Cripple” was my favorite essay this semester. I have an aunt who has MS and I know she really struggles and how hard it is on her family. This essay reminded me a lot of my aunt because she does not let it get her down. Like Mair she has a comical, selfless character that I truly respect and admire. My favorite part of her essay is in paragraph eight when she is talking about all the bad things that have happened to her health but then she say’s “Overall, though, I’ve been lucky so far.” She’s thinking on the positive side instead of dwelling on her problems. I know if I were in her situation I would’t be as strong as her. She also says to refer to her not as handicapped but as a cripple in paragraph two. She then goes on to say in the same paragraph “Perhaps [she] want them to see [her] as a tough customer, one to whom the fates/gods/viruses have not been kind, but who can face the brutal truth of her existence squarely.” She means that even though she’s crippled because of fate, any god’s powers or any illnesses, she’s still alive and going strong. Another paragraph that stood out to me was number eleven where she’s saying all the things she can do and the way it’s worded you can tell she’s making the best and still is thankful for the gift of life. She is an amazing woman.