When people thinks about disease, any desease, everyone talks about its bad sides. Everybody talks about the bed things that causes to those who are sick, and the influences to those around. And that becomes more clear when it is about a desease wich diagnose is precise, with no scape and we don't have another things to do, except to give the most comfort possible and wait - as it is in the case of ALS.
I specially didn't have still any contact with someone wich has this desease. I hope to have this chance, trying to be near to institucions wich care about people with ALS. But, what is ALS? ALSis the abreviation of - Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis. This desease, little by little, makes people loose the control of their bodies, capacity to talk and in the end the breath and heart beating.
And what would be the positive things from all this situation? I really don't want to ridicularise or badly estimate the suffering of anyone, but in this delicate situation, it can be difficult to see some positive side, and I want to help you to think about that for a while - about this positive side, about what this desease teaches to the world, about this trait that will be taken forward; instead of sadness, regret and feeling of pittness.
The first thing that takes my attention is that, when talking about ALS, is that idea that the person "get locked inside". I don´t think that this is true, and I consider that the first positive point is right there. When someone sees yourself in this type of diagnose, there is no other way instead of see inside yourself and your emotions, and enjoy every single moment at the best you can, like tasting every experience. That's how says Jung: "who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes". And that it is, they aren't locked up inside their bodies; on the contrary, their minds turns into to keys for freedom, and courage to face their emotions every day.
En psychology we learn that human is formed byy the combination and interaction of mind, body and emotions; and the relation of this with the world. Certainly, the condition of this body gives a lot of influence to the person who has ALS - And there we can find another positive point, because is almost they scream that the human isn't only their body. The human is much more than the phisic condition, and this point they show to the world, as all other same deseases.
In our world, where to be an active been, to have work, to be beautiful and young, to be functionable and where the individualism are concepts highly evaluated, imagine how it is to be someone who has ALS. But, I think that this feeling is only the beginning during the acceptation, because as the time passes by, those find pleasure in let themselves to be cared by someone, wich is hard to accept. Also, those people find values in other things, like to be happy for how they are, not depending on the body; happiness in live with intensity every day as unique ones, and inner peace in front of the tomorrow, in a world with a lot of anxiety.
I know that not everyone experience the desease in a same way. But, all those points is gotten with more ease in the conditions of the desease, and everyone should know them. These are basic lessons to live a good life, life that is worth to be lived. Those lessons is like gold. Because of all that, I think that those people are among the healthest people in the world, emotionally and mind. They have a lot to show for those around; and for me, they are far away to be estimated as "poor people".
