slide

"Somethin' I can't change. I'll live around it."

The constant scrape was what bothered him the most. More than the stares, the lack of mobility, or the gnawing feeling of inferiority. It was that scrape. The sound of the rubber sole of his Adidas pushing against every surface it met. While other people trotted easily about their day, picking up each foot as they scurried from home to work, Keenan was forced to walk slowly and drag his right foot behind him.

He wasn't always this way. He used to be an energetic kid. Just like any other boy, he jumped and swam and flipped. He was fearless. And on one of those fearless days, Keenan ran out into the street chasing a soccer ball and got hit by a car. Several nerves in his right leg were severely damages; as a result Keenan lost the ability to control his right foot. It merely drags along, and is now more akin to an anchor than a foot.

There is his day to day. Left foot step, right foot scrape. Left foot step, right foot scrape. Keenan felt like this sound might drive him crazy. He was being haunted by all that he used to be, and for some reason that ghost manifested itself in that sound. So there he was. Facing the ridiculous reality that a scraping sound would become his weakness and interrupt his ability to function.

He thought about the pain when the car struck him. The surgeries at the hospital. The bruises, scars, and broken bones. The months of physical therapy. He thought about his former determination to not let his disability define him. He had excelled in high school. He had gone to college. He had a challenging, respectable, and good-paying job. And know he had become so preoccupied by the sound of his foot scraping along the sidewalk that he was risking all that he had worked for.

So Keenan made a decision that allowed him to move forward. He found that there was a way to distract himself from the constant noise, so he could become less bitter and return to living his life. Because that was the truth of the matter. This life is his. For good and bad. He is a man with a disability. But that was the only handicap he was willing to accept. He made a decision that let him move forward in a world where he may walk a little slower than everyone else, but he would still get to the sam places.

Keenan found solace. He bought an ipod.