ABDUL WAJID

Kids are one of the bountiful blessings of Almighty Allah. These angelic creatures own godly attributes with their innocent souls and sinless hearts. Their arrival into this earthly affair is welcomed by all, provided they are not unfortunate. Kids who are born with a normal physiology are considered lucky while the rest with born disabilities are cursed. Unfortunately most parents attribute an ill-fate to the latter as they often considered them unwelcoming. But I feel sorry for such less learned people for their ignorance of facts; Facts that are awe-inspiring and encouraging.

There are enormous examples of disabled people who have won accolades and have successfully changed the course of disability to special ability. One such encouraging example is a well-known story by the name “The Left Foot”.

The Left Foot is an autobiography of a real hero, Christy Brown, who suffered from cerebral palsy. Despite of being crippled, Christy himself compiled his memoirs in his book to elucidate his hardships as a paralysed child and his struggle of learning the skills of drawing and writing with his only operational appendage, the left foot.

The protagonist, Christy Brown, was a born in Dublin, Ireland in a modest family that had other 23 members to nourish besides Christy. Although Christy lived with a large family most of the time but he felt friendless almost always and turned to be a stoical being with few friends. He preferred staying alone within the four walls of his petite room with his thoughts as his only aides. Albeit being almost abandoned by the society, Christy was most endorsed by his mother who was a very kind and patient lady carrying an earth-shaking faith in Christy’s incredible aptitude. She moved from pillar to post for curing Christy and saved every single penny for his sake. She used to stand by for Christy against all odds and thus played the chief role in Christy’s life.

Low at morale, Christy mostly kept himself caged at home and spent most of his time glued at one place, observing his siblings while they kept studying, playing, jesting and gabbing. He never realized his real worth but only after an incredible day when he snatched a piece of chalk from his brother’s hand and drew an uneven doodle of the letter ‘A’ on the ground, his whole life changed. As such Christy puzzled every one of his kin by drawing his thoughts on paper. With his mother’s hope and support, Christy began to push his way through his disability and started to learn how to write and paint with his only aid, the left foot. Following this, Christy was all set on the launching pad to success.

After properly being mentored while supported by his family, Christy Brown showed extraordinary abilities. Following are few of his acts of heroism during his life span

• As a boy, Christy Brown alerted the neighbours by banging on the front door with his left foot when his pregnant mother fell down the stairs.
• He scored a goal in a football game with local boys with a powerful kick from his left foot, while lying on his side in the middle of the street.
• Later as a young man he used all of his weight to push open the pantry door, in an attempt to help his father who was lying unconscious on the floor.
• In the local pub after his father’s funeral, Christy courageously started a brawl to defend his father’s honour.
  [COURTESY: ELESSAR STUDY CENTRAL, CHRISTY BROWN…HERO? POSTED ON SEPTEMBER 6, 2008 BY DAMIEN GALLAGHER]

In his late adolescence Christy met Dr Robert Collis, a physiotherapist, who helped him to bring up his hopes and to start his autobiography. The emotive story that he compiled is full of pain, sufferings and most importantly a food for thought. It teaches us a lesson that is worth pondering: We should never overlook people with different abilities.

Brown died at the age of 49 and left behind remarkable footprints to be followed. As such he will always be remembered as a veteran Novelist, a painter, a poet and most importantly an inspirational personality.

Later a film was launched based on his book My Left Foot. The film won zillions of accolades all over the globe and was successfully nominated for five Academy Awards in all. The movie too helped in awakening people about fortifying the less fortunate. No matter a noble soul left this world but his commendable dedication and dauntless nature will always live vivaciously in people’s hearts.

This was Christy brown’s moving story, one among thousand other similar laudable episodes. Even in Kashmir, I believe, if we look around, it won’t be difficult to find good number of such inspiring cases. Before I finish I would like to emphasize the moral of the story.

God has created everything with a purpose. By everything I mean every living thing that lives with a beating heart and an animated soul. God is never unjust because He is Al-Adl and Al-Hakam. So we should never underrate God’s creation, no matter what. We need to cultivate an amicable environment to support special kids so that we can see a more Christy browns.

Lastly I feel contented to wind up with some golden words of Allama Iqbal from his much famed Bang-e-Dra:

Her Aik Cheez Se Paida Khuda Ki Qudrat Hai
Koi Bara, Koi Chotta, Ye Uss Ki Hikmat Hai

Everything shows the Omnipotence of God
Some large, some small, is the Wisdom of God
Nahin Hai Cheez Nakami Koi Zamane Mein
Koi Bura Nahin Qudrat Ke Karkhane Mein

Nothing is useless in this world
Nothing is bad in God’s creation