Walking is something everyone is expected to be able to do. In Christina Lau’s case, her ability to walk was taken away from her on a rainy day in Malaysia. She was involved in a bad accident, badly hurting her spinal cord, leaving Christina Lau paralyzed from the chest down. She was quickly sent to the hospital and was given treatment. When she woke up at the hospital, she was told that she would never walk again.

 

Before the accident, Christina Lau worked as a prison officer. She was known to be very athletic with her passions being swimming and diving, as well as actively jogging. All of a sudden her life went from being independent to not being able to complete the simplest of actions. Christina Lau stated, “I have to start all over again. I couldn’t even do basic movements.” In life, it’s very hard when you stop being able to do things your normally able to do. It was perfectly logical when Christina started becoming very lost and depressed.

 

When Christina Lau came to our school to give a talk, she mentions how she felt in the beginning when she became paralyzed. “I felt like a burden to everyone,” Christina said. This is something I could strongly relate to as I once fell off of stairs and badly sprained both my ankles. I also lost the ability to walk, but luckily it was temporary and I could walk again. When I was in a wheelchair I had to keep asking people for help and life became really hard all of a sudden. It was a very strange feeling because when you think about it, even though people are helping you, you know that they don’t actually want to help, they’d rather be doing something else. It was pushing them out of their comfort zone by assisting you with everything. You just start hating yourself at that point and it makes you feel like you’re the problem. That’s why it is very important to get support from friends and family as they could make a big difference.

When asked about how we should be treating disabled people, Christina Lau claimed, “You have to make disabled people feel included, welcome, and respected.” I think it’s really important how you treat people that are less fortunate than you. I myself could remember a time when I had to go around in a wheelchair and suddenly It made me feel less of human in a way. I think what Christina said is very very true. In my perspective, the best thing someone could do when they encounter anybody in a wheelchair you should just treat them as if they’re a normal person. I could recall times when people tried to help me even when I didn’t need any. The worst thing you could do is to try hard to sympathize and offer a lot of help. Just because they’re in a wheelchair doesn’t mean they need help with every little thing. Obviously, assist them when they request, but it would make them uncomfortable if you feel obliged to give your all your attention to them.

The message Christina wanted to give was to make the most of life. She presents us with her life after her accident and it was very, very different. Christina Lau became a certified mouth painter. She even tried getting a job after attending classes. She wanted to do what normal people did even after the accident as she believes that you can always get back up when you fall down. Another thing she pointed out was that you’ll never know how far you can go if you never try. I agree with her as I also believe that nothing is impossible. It’s very amazing to see someone hit rock bottom and bounce back up by discovering new passions and even finding a job, rather than just sitting back. She was rewarded by getting an opportunity to participate in a table tennis competition for people with disadvantages. Christina admits that the accident did push her to try new things she would’ve never done.

 

I believe that if Christina could live a happy life despite all the things that went against her, we could live a happy life too and be thankful for all the things we have. It’s evident that people are always in need of something and never really satisfied. At the end of the day, it’s just human nature and that’s who we are. On the other hand, there are so many things that we should be happy for that we’re not. It would make life so much better if we could focus our attention on things we need to show appreciation for rather than just feeling miserable for everything we don’t have. At the end of the day, you’ll never know how much you have until you don’t have it anymore.

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