Sometimes stories surprise and energize at the same time. The Internet is a treasure trove of a myriad different kinds of stories. Some mundane. Some shocking. Some depressing. Others inspiring and enlightening. Stories of despair and demise. Stories of triumph and courage. Stories of positivity and optimism. Stories of extreme pessimism and gloom.
As any other good thing, finding really good stories online is also difficult and time-taking. But such stories there are. In different corners of cyberspace. Tonight, I was idling online and happened to visit time.com. The online portal of the world's premier news magazine had an amazing story. The story is that of an African American man named Robert Chelsea who suffered 80% burn during a severe accident in 2013. His face was severely disfigured and had almost no lips. No lips meant he could not speak well, chew, spit, kiss his daughter and had to tilt his head backwards while eating to avoid dropping his food and drink. He came out alive after four months in hospital and countless surgeries. But he was severely disfigured.
Despite being in a nightmarish situation, Robert had an amazingly positive outlook of life. He had full compassion at people staring at his face. He said it was natural for them to be shocked and curious at his extremely disfigured face. Still, he had positive outlook of life and would even joke about his appearance.
The miracle of medical science meant Robert had a possibility of restoring his face through transplant. He was first offered a white man's face but he rejected as it would mean he would lose his African American identity. Finally, in 2019, he was offered a face of an African American and he accepted the transplant. After another round of complex surgery, Robert was released with the new face in August 2019. He now could chew, spit, kiss his grown up daughter and would not have to worry about dropping his food while eating.
I found the story special because a small pimple or a tiny acne or a small scratch or a minor spot on my face makes me anxious. The modern age of accentuated beauty, social media exposure and selfie-centric self-image means we all are over-conscious and over-anxious about our appearance. I also have part of that feeling. While I am extremely lucky to have a decent face, I still am anxious about those petty challenges. On the other hand, Robert much have been shocked by his own face after the burns but he literally kept a 'brave face' and positive outlook that kept him going and ultimately gave him the courage to accept another man's face on his head.
An inspiring story of positive thought, optimistic outlook of life and easy acceptance of one's circumstances. Awesome story of an ordinary man's courage and positivity.
Thursday 24 October 2019 (7 Kartik 2076)
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