Jane Hinrichs
Perfectly Blunt

Was it just this summer I wrote a column about eating right?

I fell off the wagon big time I notice as I stare at a handful of tootsie rolls and a tall Diet Coke sitting beside my keyboard. (I continue to eat lots of fruit and vegetables and little flour).

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I guess you could say I didn’t care that much. I had the best intentions, but when a person isn’t really committed, a change probably won’t happen permanently.

So often, I’ve thanked God that I never took up smoking or drinking. I admire people who have successfully overcome one or both of these addictions. These victories are illustrations of humanity at its best.

Remembering we are just human is good and bad.

When we use it as an excuse it’s a bad thing. Remembering people are just human is a good thing when we are dealing with someone else’s inadequacies.

I had a talk with my oldest child last week about the importance of giving someone the benefit of the doubt. A friend hurt him unintentionally. My son thought his friend should have known better than to say what he did.

I talked to my son about seeing people’s actions not by what happened but what they intended. I believe we often judge ourselves by our intentions and others by their actions. We need to reverse that but it isn’t in our nature to do so.

Being human also means we are physically fragile at times. Lately, I’ve been dealing with pain and feeling worn out. I feel decades older than I really am. It’s frustrating to me when I have to slow down and let my body recover.

And my son, Hawken, who does so well with his Vagus Nerve Stimulator has to undergo surgery to have it removed this week. His body has rejected it. He’s been dealing with infection for a few weeks.

Sadly, removing it will take away his smiles, his eye contact and will bring on headaches and seizures.

When I was first told it would have to come out, I was devastated. It’s like losing my son.

But then the neurologist’s nurse told me after his body heals he might be able to get a new VNS put in.

It is odd to think that my son is dependent on a little piece of plastic and metal and some wires to be himself, but that is the truth. 

The medical miracles we now have are incredible, but they also remind us of our frailty.

No matter how much we improve physically, how much we learn, in the end we are just human. We all will die. We all will have physical issues to deal with eventually. We all will be betrayed by our own bodies. So, I wonder why we put so much emphasis on them when the part of us that will live forever resides invisibly within?

We need to maintain our bodies so we can function, and it is fun to express ourselves with how we look and what we do. But that’s not where life is.

And we are wrong when we judge others on these kinds of things.

Give others a break this week. And give yourself a break if you fail. It takes guts to admit failure and to get up and try again.

I hope you all have a great week.