janela

On my busride home the other day, we stopped to wait for a man to crawl across the four-lane street. As far as I could see, one of his legs was paralyzed.

A few stops later, a man scrambled up the front steps of the bus, first throwing his crutches, then pulling himself up with his arms to sit in the closest seat.

This was not the first time I'd seen a man yank himself up the bus steps. This happens all the time. The buses don't have any mechanisms to adjust the steps to make life easier for people with disabilities. And there are many. If you have a disability here in Brazil, life is especially difficult. Wheelchairs are not so readily available, and if they were, the average person couldn't afford one.

I imagine people who are paralyzed are forced to use crutches all their lives. I don't know what would happen if a person couldn't use crutches for some reason and couldn't afford a wheelchair. I don't know that the government helps in any way.

In both of these situations, I wanted to run up and help these people. But, what could I do? I couldn't carry them, though I wished I could. I will not forget that look of struggle and determination in these men's eyes.