And that includes me.
No, I am not talking about wealth, beauty, popularity, title or any other nonsensical thing.
I am talking about having the ability to talk, read, write and eat.
Normal, everyday stuff we take for granted.
Getting up out of bed and being able to stand on your feet, reaching for your phone or swallowing a sip of coffee.
All very small, normal activities, right?
I was given one hell of an eye-opener this weekend.
I visited the Vita Nova Centre where they hosted a Christmas party for the residents.
If you don’t know, this is a centre where people with physical and mental disabilities live, with people who take care of them around the clock.
Their needs are more advanced than ours and they require constant supervision.
So when I arrived at the event, I didn’t know what to expect.
I’m extremely sentimental when it comes to people with disabilities, so when the music blasted through the speakers, my mouth fell open.
I’ve never had so much fun watching other people dance.
Not even the original Step Up movie, now that’s huge.
No one, but no one, beats Channing Tatum’s moves… or so I thought.
I’ve seen a lot of physically disabled people in my life and always felt pity for them.
On Saturday, I didn’t feel an ounce of pity as I watched these wonderful human beings dance their hearts out.
They had the most fun in the world dancing to old pop songs and busting out some seriously cool moves.
Honestly, I couldn’t move like that even if I tried!
These residents, with their disabled bodies and some with impaired minds, did not have a care in the world other than dancing up a storm.
Even those who are wheelchair-bound were spinning it up on the dance floor with the help of an awesome ‘driver’ behind the handlebars.
They were throwing their hands in the air like they just did not care!
It was such an amazing thing to witness, those carefree, ecstatic moments they had.
So now I, who have the physical ability to dance, do not.
I care what people think, when I should not.
I am shy of expressing myself to music, when I should not be.
Why is it that we have so many abilities which we could do so much with, the potential to reach heights unknown, but we don’t?
Yes, we have certain physical limitations…
Like, we can’t fly… which is extremely unfortunate I must say, but we can dance to music and enjoy life, yet we don’t.
Because no one has time for silly little things like dancing anymore.
I am not including teenagers and their rages or parties or whatever they call it in this assessment. We know you party hard. Goue sterretjies vir julle.
Such a simple yet exhilarating act which we find too simplistic or senseless to waste time on. It was incredible to watch people who do not have the full-scale ability we do enjoy such moments.
They are absolutely beautiful.
We take life far too seriously and drown ourselves in worries we cannot control.
For the love of all that’s good, I ask you: why do we always stress about things we cannot change, rather than find a way of dealing with it?
There are so many horrible things wrong with this world.
Don’t even get me started on the violence of what we are facing on a daily basis or the brutal acts taking place around us.
We don’t know what happens tomorrow, so while we still can, why don’t we let go a little and live?
Those who have so little, who can do so little, can give us a lesson on how to enjoy life.
If you’re sad, dance it out to your favourite song.
If you’re upset, get some aggro music in there and shake it off.
Or just calmly sway to a soothing song.
The world is cruel, yes, but not everything needs to be horrible.
