1. -1 Mary Craven
Professor Bolton
English 101
January 30, 2012
Acceptance
Technology is a necessity in everyday life. From light bulbs to cars to medicine,
the human race would have suffered without it. Technology allows for people to travel
long distances in a relatively short amount of time. It allows for people with handicaps to
live life to the fullest. Medical technology has allowed for two of my own friends to live
their lives to the fullest, even though they are deemed handicapped by normal society. My
friends, Tracy and Charlotte, are both bilateral above-the-knee amputees, and both wear a
set of prosthetics Wearing these prosthetics has allowed my friends to work normal jobs,
to attend college, play softball, and live normal, healthy lives. Their handicap, however,
allowed me to teach my young son a very valuable life lesson.
My son has always been a curious little boy. He has been around both Charlotte
and Tracy almost all of his life, and for the longest time, he was afraid of their
differences. We were sitting in the car one day, driving home from the store, and he
turned to me in the front seat. He’d apparently been thinking about this for hours before
he decided to confront me. “Mama, what’s wrong with Charlotte and Mrs. Tracy’s legs?”
I didn’t really know how to respond at first, and drove along before I finally
answered my curious son, “Well, when they were born, something was wrong with their
legs. They had to amputate their legs or else they wouldn’t be able to walk like you and
me.”

2. Cameron shifted and thought about it, propping his knee up on the seat, “But
mama, why?”
My family is religious, and I turned as we pulled up to the stop sign, “Well, that
was how God made them.”
Cameron looked at me again, “But why would God make someone different?
Isn’t that kind of mean?”
The conversation carried on as we pulled back up at the house.
“Well, son, not everyone can be the same. There isn’t anything wrong with being
different. Charlotte and Mrs. Tracy can do everything you and I can do, they just may
have to do it differently. You’ve been around them long enough, is there anything wrong
with Charlotte and Tracy? Just because they have two prosthetic legs, does that make
Charlotte different in how she treats you and acts?”
I asked him those questions to make him think, but without hesitation, he simply
shook his head, “Nope. There’s nothing wrong with them, mama.” I wanted to ask him
one last question, to see if he got the point of what the conversation was about, “So does
being different than you and me mean something is wrong?”
Without skipping a beat, Cameron shook his head, “Just because Charlotte and
Mrs. Tracy have prosthetics doesn’t mean there is anything wrong with them. Just
because a man is in a wheelchair doesn’t mean there is anything wrong with them. I
guess its not the outside that makes a person, but the inside, isn’t it mama?”
I smiled at him, “That’s right, Cameron.”
Technology helped me, indirectly, teach my son a lesson most people don’t learn
in their lifetime. Now, my son doesn’t even blink when we’re out in public and we see

3. someone who is in a wheelchair, or has an artificial arm or leg. He doesn’t question them
about it, and he doesn’t stare. He knows that just because something doesn’t match up to
what society deems is normal doesn’t mean anything is wrong with them. When he is out
and about with Charlotte or Tracy, and people stare, he often questions why people are
staring at them, that there isn’t anything to stare at. They are normal, just like everyone
else. Most people don’t learn this lesson in life. They aren’t taught early on to accept
people for who they are, not what they look like. Perhaps if people could learn this
lesson, or could have their own Charlotte or Tracy in their lives, there wouldn’t be so
much bullying in schools, or suicides in young children. People would be more open to
others, and wouldn’t question as often. The world would be a better place if people could
just learn to accept, just as my son accepted with open arms.