But, You LOOK Fine!
I've heard it. Many of the other invisibly, chronically ill people I know hear it too. That comment: "You look fine" or "you don't LOOK sick." It used to make me mad - now I just feel disrespected. There are still a handful of people in my life who knew me before. Before I was swept out of life's current by something I can't see. Before I put on a lot of weight due to illness, drugs and surgeries -- and despite appropriate exercise and a healthy diet. Before I spent 75% of my time in bed. This thing I am now? I don't even recognize it. The next time someone tells you they are ill when they look fine - before you make that comment - think. Can you SEE a headache? Can you see early stages of cancer? What does a person who is trying to handle pain look like? Are they ' well ' if they don't have a cane? (By the way, I should use one - I just refuse.) And what is God trying to tell us all with these illness? To be less jud