This basically turned into a rant, but I hope someone enjoys.
“The Unseen Disease”
We live with a disease that does have a name, but many people just want to ignore it. Maybe it reminds them of a lost family member or reminds them that good health is not always a guarantee, that we humans are human. It does not show on the outside, except once in a great while, and oftentimes even our families forget or never know what it’s truly like. The media occasionally mentions us, but never truly explains, leaving everyone to make their assumptions and listen to what their friends have stated. The government does not want to help us, with medicine and daily care, but then they point their finger and tell us that we weren’t compliant and how much money that costs their already corrupt system. Daily life is a challenge, never knowing what to expect. Always the worry of how to pay for this disease and all that it brings. The ones you think would understand are the ones who stand first to judge so many of us keep it secret. Secret so that we can get a job; secret so that you don’t have to listen to people call you lazy for not “curing” yourself. Secret so the squeamish don’t have to see, don’t have to know, even though they are the ones watching. People say that watching it makes others tolerant and brave, but it’s a daily, no, multiple- time a day process for us and yet they don’t call us brave. What do they have to be tolerant of? Did we offend them in some way? Are we monsters or some strange thing from outer space? We have a secret strength. We have to in order to survive; the nights of no sleep and everyday having to keep up with everything. We’re still people, you don’t see a wheel chair, an artificial limb or any other evidence of the struggles we maintain, but it’s still there. People want us to be “normal” but this is our normal; wondering about blood sugars, how something is going to affect us, how we can work around a crazy schedule, etc. We aren’t going to be normal, but that doesn’t mean that we can’t live, that we can’t make a difference and play our part. If you don’t want Diabetes to be a disease (heaven forbid if we call it that), why, when you find out about it, do you act like I have one foot in the grave? It’s unseen because we have to fit everyone’s role of “normal” and we strive to fit that mold so much sometimes that we keep our mouths shut and feel crazy that we somehow never will fit in, but this is one person tired of being silent, tired of trying to fit the mold.