Namine and I have been reading a book for school, called “Johnny Tremain”. It’s a story of a silversmith apprentice whose hand, through an accident, is badly burned and can no longer study under his master.
We were at a part in the book where Johnny is no longer ashamed of other people seeing his hand, but neither does he deliberately draw attention to it. In the scene in question, Johnny is talking to a doctor. The doctor asks Johnny about his hand, “Was it the will of God?”
The narrator explains that in the 1700s, congenital disorders were considered the divine will of God, and no doctor would attempt to intervene. If a disorder came about through sickness or accident, they would.
On learning this, Namine became quite upset. “It’s not the child’s fault they were born that way. It’s not my fault that I can’t walk without my walker. It’s not anyone’s fault. A doctor should help, no matter what! A doctor should always help!”
The picture at the top of the post is from when Dr. Gordon, the director of the Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin Special Needs program, retired. He and all of Namine’s doctors have helped her so much. In Namine’s own words: “Without my doctors, I wouldn’t be able to walk, or talk, or even be alive at all.”
Leave a Reply