#A4Amonth August 21: Day 1: Portrait Post: Advocating for Another, Health Activist Edition: Write a descriptive portrait of your community. Share qualities that make them, them – and include an image! (A photo or creative work of them!)
My community: The Chronically Awesome
I am at a concert. As usual, I have either purchased my seats well in advance, or if I am attending a show that has general admission or standing room only tickets, I have arrived very early so that I can press myself right against the stage.
As the room fills up, I can feel the pressure against my back of the growing crowd. I hear different kinds of voices, different kinds of conversations rising and falling amongst the masses. It’s funny how, if you just took a couple of words from each person, you might be able to put together one oddly cohesive story. The varied stories of total strangers, brought together for one event, one commonality. And, when the music starts, often one voice.
When you stand at the front of a large crowd, the stage or main event in front of you, you don’t often have reason to turn around. But if you did, if for one moment you turned to glimpse that thronging mass of very different people, brought together by one common thread, to sing one common song, with a voice that together was loud, clear, and unquestionably a unified theme, you would be looking at that very moment at the Chronically Awesome Community.
The Chronically Awesome Community are those people that come from everywhere, we have every kind of condition imaginable, we don’t distinguish between autoimmune disorders or psychological disorders. We have come together like those concertgoers to sing a common song, to be heard, to bring awareness, and most of all TO BE AWESOME!
The portrait of the Chronically Awesome Crowd are those people with their arms in the air, clapping hands, singing, and finding the joy in every moment they can. There is enough suffering in the illnesses we must carry with us, so why not look for the awesome?
The next time you see a thronging mass of people, laughing and having a great time, think to yourself, “That is the portrait of the Awesome… The Chronically Awesome!”
