Handicapped?

If you've read my stories you know that my life experiences pop up now and then. I'm afraid the following 750-word effort (just to see if I could do it) has happened all too many times... Let's not judge others, we can never tell, by looking, what someone else is going through.

Handicapped?

By NYSwede

I pulled up into the space in front of the grocery store, hung the placard on my mirror, and started to get out of my car...

"You should be ashamed of yourself."

"Are you speaking to me?"

"Yes, of course..."

I looked up and saw a woman looking me over.

"You must have me confused with someone else, I don't know you and have nothing to be ashamed of, at least nothing I'm going to discuss with you, haha."

"Look at you, you don't need, or deserve, a handicap parking space."

"Excuse me?"

"You're clearly fit and strong, I 'm going to call the police."

"What?"

"It's illegal to use someone else's placard to park in a handicap spot, they're reserved for people who really need them."

I hadn't moved, I was standing in the doorway of my car.

"So you can tell my physical condition, level of pain, or disability, by just looking at me?

There are a lot of injuries and disabilities that aren't readily visible... what if I had a heart condition, like arrhythmia, would I be able to use this parking spot if I had arrhythmia?"

She snapped, "You're as healthy as a horse."

I continued, "What about pain? Injuries that, maybe, cause severe pain?"

"I've seen people in pain, and you're not one of them."

By now she was practically yelling, so onlookers had started to gather. That seemed to embolden her as she was egged on by the growing crowd.

I heard some of their comments...

"He does look pretty healthy."

"Stronger than me."

I continued trying to find a place of compassion in her heart...

"Well, maybe my pain comes and goes, or comes on suddenly?"

"That's ridiculous, you're clearly not in pain or handicapped, I'm calling the police."

She actually dialed 911 and had a hushed conversation with the dispatcher.

When she was off the phone, I tried again.

"Hmm, so let's see; arrhythmia, occasional severe pain, don't count, what if I had hip replacement surgery a few days ago? Or, say, three compressed disks in my lower back? Maybe a broken cuboid bone that never healed properly? They could all cause a great deal of pain and discomfort not apparent to most people...

...Ahh, but with your X-ray vision, you have already determined that I am, as you proclaimed, as healthy as a horse... Right?"

She announced,

"The police are on their way."

The crowd actually cheered.

"Please tell me, is there any circumstance when someone who was not visibly hurt, injured, sick, or disabled in some way, is able to pass your careful scrutiny?"

Again the bystanders chimed in...

"He has to have proof."

"He probably stole the placard."

"He should go to jail... lose his license... be dragged away like the dirtbag he is."

Just then a police car pulled up.

The crowd stepped aside to make a path to where my accuser and I were standing.

"What's going on here?"

I let her speak, and she went into a long tirade about how I was abusing the system, using a stolen handicap placard, and that I should be arrested.

The officer asked for my ID...

I hesitated and said,

"I have been trying to find if there was a place in these people's hearts to allow for something they can't see... but they've already decided...

...arrhythmia, occasional debilitating pain, recent hip replacement surgery, three compressed discs in one's lower back, or a broken cuboid bone, might qualify, but she, and most of them...

I pointed to the crowd.

...don't believe any of those things apply to me. So, before you take me away, one more question please; What if I was a 75-year-old disabled veteran, would, or should, I be allowed to use a handicapped parking space?"

She jumped right on that,

"Look at you, you're not a day over 50, and none of what you've been saying applies to you. You should be ashamed bringing our brave vets into this discussion."

I looked at the officer.

He asked,

"Well sir, do you have ID? Do any of those things apply to you?"

As I reached for my wallet I said...

"No sir, not a single one of those things applies to me..."

"Ha, I knew it."

She was so certain.

The crowd chanted...

"Lock him up, lock him up."

As I handed the officer my VHIC; Veteran Health Identification Card, I turned to the woman and the crowd and said...

"No not one... all of them do."