Why is you get a little brain tumor you get all the sympathy in world, but fall off a ladder and do some real damage and all you get is "serves you right"? Yesterday I had two trips to the hospital: one for treatment for the former, while the second was to get checked out for the latter. I was going up in the loft to get some bags of Jack's old clothes when the ladder disappeared from under me. I landed on my bum. The clothes landed on my head. At least I wasn't getting an Acme Anvil down from the loft. As a result I now have a dodgy back which is slowly getting better. No real damage done.
Here I must protest. While I have received many well-wishings in regards to my tumor, thanks for which have already been given on these here pages, the ladder 'incident' has sparked a less than sympathetic response. While I realise one is more serious than the other, falling from about a grand height of about four feet and landing on your ass hurts a damn sight more. And yet the kind of responses I've had include "What were you doing up a ladder?" I resisted the obvious response, "Trying to get to an area that was higher than I could not physically reach."
It's not like I wasn't misusing the ladders. They were properly set up in the proper manor and I wasn't stood at the top of them on one leg juggling chainsaws. It's the same thing with DIYers. No matter how many fingers they lose there's almost a 'serves them right' attitude. Well no more. I have 'suffered' serious illness and not-so-serious injury, and I demand equality. Our attitudes toward injury sustained through misadventure should no longer be dismissed as mere folly. I trust you'll now see my ladder related injuries on par with my brain cancer.
Amen.
Tomorrow I'm trimming the hedge. Wish me luck.
J
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It's all to do with choice. You did not choose to have a tumor and thus get lots of sympathy when you do (rightly so). However, you chose to go up the ladder and, therefore, if you sustain an injury doing so there is some justification in saying well "it serves you right" (I'm not saying that but some might) you did not have to go up the ladder. Therefore, equality can't be granted in this case!
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