A Legendary Case for National Healthcare

He was standing at the foot of the stairs of the Columbus Circle subway station.  As I got off the B train and crossed the platform to wait for the A train to arrive, I noticed him.  A young hispanic man with the brightest smile I have ever seen, was standing at the foot of the stairs leading to the 1 train or the exit, whichever.  That smile was so captivating that I almost miss the sandwich-board size sign hanging around his neck.  Like any other sandwich board sign it was professionally printed with large letters.  The smile was so engaging I had to force myself to read the sign: I lost my arms in a terrible accident.  I am collecting money to buy my prosthetics so that I can return to work.  Please help.

That was when I noticed that this young man with the beautiful smile with a large sign hanging from his neck was holding the sign in place with his upper arms which now ended just above where there should have been elbows.  Those elbows did not have the smoothe scars I have seen on other amputees.  These arm stumps had scars that looked like the mangled wounds that cost this young man his forarms and hands.  These were scars that reported on emergency care that was substandard to our expectations.  I know this because this young man wanted help badly enough to wear a short sleeved cotton dress shirt. 

Suddenly, I didn't know where to look.  I didn't want to stare at his wounds, but they commanded the same powerful attention as his smile.  In spite of whatever he had been through, all that he had been through, he smiled as his sign asked for a second chance to make a living for himself.

I counted 20 people on that platform.  Two of us approached him with cash, which we placed in a shoulder bag hanging on one side.  The other person who made a contribution was a well-dressed black lady carrying a Louis Vuitton bag, a new LV bag, a real LV bag.  I watched as she looked into his eyes, smiling at him and caressed his face as a mother would after putting her money in his bag.  The other 18 people on the platform this day chose not to see him.  They missed out on seeing one of the most radiant smiles they would ever see in their lifetimes.  They missed out on an opportunity to do for someone what our governemnt should be doing.  That is, to make sure that everyone has the best emergency healthcare possible.  To make sure that everyone has the tools they need to make a life for himself...something as basic as hands.

He asked for hands so he can work, not a lifetime of hand outs.  What he must of thought when people didn't see him!  It didn't seem to matter.  He kept smiling, kept trying to engage people.  If this isn't a prime example of how to be legendary, I don't know the meaning of the word.