In 2012, I developed a sudden nerve condition and now walk with a cane.
About two years ago, I took a Lyft from my NYC Midtown hotel to Penn Station at the height of morning rush hour. As I stepped out of the car and headed toward the entrance, a very large, seemingly endless crowd of commuters came flooding out of the entrance I needed to go into to navigate my way down the escalator to the Amtrak holding pen.
A wave of terror came over me. I scanned the edges of the plaza for a safe place against the building to park myself until the crowd thinned, but found no refuge. At that moment, a random thought popped into my head.
“I AM MOSES,” I told my noggin in a reverb voice, steeled my spine and began walking with purpose toward the entrance. My cane became a staff and the crowd parted as I walked through it.
Nothing about my situation had changed, but my attitude about my mobility had, not only in my mind, but also reflected in the behavior of the crowd. They did not know me nor did they care, but as I saw myself as Moses parting the Red Sea, so did they and changed their behavior because of it.
I walked like Moses down the escalator and through the length of Penn Station. Every crowd I encountered parted for me.
Originally published on Medium, but feels apt for today.
Beautiful.
I wrote something similar yesterday in response to someone making fun of the cane. I looked for it just now, but couldn’t find it.
It was something like this, “At 39, I used a cane for 6 months. It made me feel tough, like if someone attacked me, I could just beat them with my cane. They’d have probably snatched it from me, but that’s not the point.”
Like you, the reason I needed the cane was because of a mysterious nerve thing, which happened overnight. I discovered it when I couldn’t make my clutch foot work (I ended up pushed my leg down with my hand) and then kept falling all day. I was very lucky that the nerve regenerated.
Anyway, it warmed my heart that someone else experienced the cane the same way and also through a nerve injury.
The other part of my same note in response to the same person was, “Shake ‘em if you got ‘em”.
😊
What an uplifting and insightful piece. It made me smile...thanks.