What is Love? It's walking a mile in a wheelchair's shoes

As some of you may know, I work at a university. Two weeks ago it was rainy and cold as I arrived to work that morning. As I began making my way from my car in the parking lot to the building where I work I noticed a student in a wheelchair having a difficult time making his way up the wet sidewalk to a building further up the gradual slope from the administrative building where I work.

My heart sank. I wanted to assist him. I wanted to ask if he needed help, but then I wondered if it was politically correct or even insulting to offer assistance. "A person in a wheelchair wants their independence as much as I do," I thought. I walked passed and left him to continue his struggle up the sidewalk by himself in the wind and rain.

Then I stopped dead in my tracks. "What would Jesus do?" I thought. Better yet, "What did Jesus do?!" As I considered the scriptures about our Savior and Redeemer I said to myself "to heck with political correctness or independence!"

"Hey sir! Could you use some help?" I shouted through the piercing rain.

His eyes filed with tears: "Yes, please help me." came the reply.

Tears welled up in my eyes as I ran over to help him. I grabbed the handles and introduced myself.

McCray was his name. He not only needed assistance but was actually going further than I had anticipated that morning. At the pace he was traveling in that cold, wet, blistery morning he would have been out their another 45 minutes. We got their in 5, together.

We had a cordial conversation and parted ways when we made it to the door.

That was a life changing moment for me. Not because I helped a fellow human being who happened to be in a wheelchair, but because I resolved that day to spend a week only walking where a wheelchair rolls. For a week I attempted to access pathways, sidewalks, buildings, and stories of buildings the way a wheelchair would access them. That week was life changing.

Here is what I learned:
1. To a wheelchair, a mole hill is a mountain
2. To a wheelchair, the bottom of a flight of stairs looks like Mount Everest
3. To a wheelchair, the top of a flight of stairs looks like the Grand Canyon
4. To a wheelchair, walking from point A to point B is more of a maze than a walk
5. To a wheelchair, stepping on a crack won't break your mother's back, but could knock you over
6. To a wheelchair, an elevator is a needle in a haystack
7. To a wheelchair, the wheelchair accessible automatic doors are often broken because of lazy walkers using them too often
8. To a wheelchair, getting somewhere on time takes a lot of planning
9. To a wheelchair, people aren't as considerate as they should be when they see blue disabled stickers
10. For a week I was utterly frustrated at attempting to walk a mile in a wheelchair's shoes.

If you want to appreciate a different perspective, try walking only where a wheelchair walks. You'll never be the same.

Thank you McCray for a life altering experience.

What is Love? It's walking a mile in a wheelchair's shoes.