Tonight I spent the evening hanging out with my good friends Joe, Jenn and Xin playing some good old fashion board games. It was extremely entertaining when we added punishments/rules into the mix especially during the classic game Monopoly.
We each wrote down three "dares/rules" on papers and put them into a bowl and every time a player passed "Go", they'd have the option to collect $200 and perform a dare from the bowl or pass "Go" without the customary $200 bonus.
Now here's where it got interesting. Someone had written a dare/rule that the person must go outside for 30 seconds barefoot. That one was quite nasty as it's freezing cold and snowing outside. The worse part of this dare is in that 30 seconds, your opponents are inside collaborating and not paying rent to you. I had hotels on Boardwalk and Park Place and apparently a few people stayed at my luxurious hotels for free while I freeze my butt off for half a minute numerous occasions.
Another rule that made life difficult and cruel was "keep eyes closed for two whole turns". We take our sight for granted everyday. It's what we have, now I much appreciate the fact that I can see, all the wonderful colours, the smiling faces of my family and friends. Even the pissed off faces of my loved ones when I screw up.
The third rule one that hindered the player was no use of the right hand for the rest of the game. It really made me appreciate my right arm much more when I lost the use of it for such a long time. And compounded with the "do 20 push ups rule", that eventually made it more strategically/economically viable to pass "Go" and forfeit the $200 bonus in order not to draw a dare/rule. Luckily, Jennifer kept landing on $1500 Park Place when I wasn't blind or outside and made me very very wealthy with in game money.
We all learned to be more grateful for all the everyday things we take granted and are just part of our lives. Our sight, our limbs, sense of smell... Some people are born without one or more of these senses or capability. Some people through accidents lose one or more of them. It's sad, and we all got a small taste of how life would be difficult even for just a few hours without the use of an arm or the ability to see. I remember a recent client from Red Cross that had difficulty seeing, I now know what's it's like to be like that, even though it was just for a short while. The uncertainty, the helplessness in the darkness.
It's inspiring that people with disabilities strife to live their life to the best of their abilities, so we the able body should strive to do more for each other because every moment is precious. You never know what's going to happen tomorrow or the day after. One of my favorite T.V. shows who's protagonist suffers from a life changing degenerative disease. She keeps on living her life to the best of her abilities even knowing that some day, she will fall into a coma and slowly slip away. She never gives up, and writes down her struggles in a diary which gets published and to this day continues to inspire, give hope to patients and families who are affected by the disease. It's called "One Litre of Tears", check it out :).
Ciao.
J
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