Posted on 12/01/2008 6:58:51 AM PST by Dysart
SAN ANTONIO — Mary Dague hears the catty whispers sometimes. "So ugly," the strangers say when they think she can’t hear.
The 24-year-old has bright green eyes, a quick smile, and on the days she gets her husband’s help, perfectly applied mascara and blush.
But all the gawkers really see are her arms, each amputated above the elbow.
What they don’t suppose — with no fatigues or standard-issue Army T-shirt to clue them in — is that this chatty young woman, who likes to wear a little black dress to fancy parties as much as the next girl, is an Army sergeant whose arms were blown off as she dismantled a bomb in Iraq. She was awarded a Purple Heart.
In uniform, she’s often recognized as a wounded veteran and thanked for her service. Out of uniform, she pretends not to hear the careless whispers.
"At first, it kind of hurts, and then, it makes you sad," she said.
Sad not for herself, but for those she sees wasting their youth and opportunities.
"I’m 24, and I feel like I’ve lived a full, happy life already," she said.
It’s a life forever marred by an accident that has made even the simplest task a struggle, and rehabilitation is slow. But she’s eagerly looking beyond it, to the day she gets a sophisticated prosthetic arm, and beyond that, to a time when she’s self-sufficient.
Women warriors...
(Excerpt) Read more at star-telegram.com ...
That’s too bad. I hope your husband realizes at least some of the objectionable comments are awkwardly worded remarks by people who don’t know how to express their admiration and respect.
It’s better to ignore the obvious until you get to know the person well enough to ask- usually by then it will have come up in conversation anyway. Hubby doesn’t even mind if strangers ask, as long as they don’t do it in a rude way. I have no problem with people being uncomfortable from not knowing how to act and neither does he- but there is no excuse to be rude as some people really are. Some people forget a person with a disability of any kind is a person first- just address the person not the disability.
Well, I must agree that unfortunately some people are jerks. Please express to your husband my respect and appreciation for his sacrifice.
I wish I knew how to post this picture of a note a wounded Navy Seal put on the door to his hospital room. It explains the mindset so much better than words from anyone else.
I hope everyone will follow this link to read his sign, and if someone knows how to post this I hope they will.
http://www.blackfive.net/main/2007/11/wounded-us-navy.html
OOPs, Seal = SEAL before I get corrected- sorry I do know better.
Thanks!
I understand your chivalry, laweeks. There is one thing you haven’t taken into consideration, however.
When threatened, the female of the species is the most dangerous, for she will fight to the death to protect her young. (there are a few exceptions here and there, but they get quickly eliminated from the gene pool)
“When threatened, the female of the species is the most dangerous, for she will fight to the death to protect her young.”
And a man won’t? Kind of “sexist,” isn’t it? Just like saying a man wouldn’t have children because he can’t stand the pain . . . Can’t imagine what kind of a man (or woman) would not fight to the death to protect his young.
Unless there are no men to put into harm’s way, women should never be put there . . . never . . . I have too much respect for women to want them to be fodder for an enemy . . . remember what happened to Jessica Lynch . . . once the feminists found out what the savages did to her in captivity, they dropped her like a hot potato.
I’m from the old school . . . women are very special . . . no need to have them in combat at all or any where near combat . . . I feel so sorry for her . . . she’s a heroine . . . but the military thinking that put her into a demolition disarmament unit should rethink their thinking.
You and I are not actually disagreeing. I would much prefer my man to protect me from danger, and I am sure he would, as many men have done for their wives and children in all the eons past.
But, when all else is lost, do not underestimate the female of the species to fight to her death to protect her young.
Your point, that she shouldn’t have to, is what has enabled women and children to survive this far.
But, we are living in a falling empire. Unfortunately for my grandchildren.
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