My grandmother used to say that no one goes through life untouched. Way back when I was a lot younger, I never quite understood what she was saying. Now many years later, sadly long after my Nana has died, I think I understand what she was saying although I may have taken this more esoteric and less of a literal meaning.

There are two groups of people in the word. There are those that go through life having the best marriage, winning every lottery, getting the best jobs, never have a serious illness, and leading what seems to the rest of us, a perfect life. Then there's the rest of us. We're the ones who work hard for what we need and not just what we want, appreciate what we have dearly because we're dealt the blows early on, and take it all in stride with all the willpower we can muster.

These "other" people, the ones that lead the perfect lives, poke fun (figuratively) at the rest of us, treat us like garbage, mock our illness, and never give us credit for anything other than being their slaves. They even go as far as to deny us treatment for our illnesses, or when they do provide treatment it's sometimes at a lower level unless we pay highly for it.

The'se so-called untouched people however will end up touched physically at some point in their lives whether they realize it or not. At some point in their arrogance they will trip up because they take everything for granted. They'll ruin their perfect marriage by having an affair, their job by performing some shady deal or other illegal activity. Or worse, end up seriously ill. With all of their material possesions and their picture-perfect lives, this will do them in faster than it will the rest of us.

You see, they've never had to deal with this kind of thing longterm so they don't know how to deal with it. They don't know how to face an enemy head on, only to bully others to get what they want. They are the first ones to run for the hills when the going gets rough.

What was she saying? After all of my feveriish ramblings, these other people who feel that nothing ever will happen to them, will be hit harder and faster that the rest of us who had to deal with life's issues all along. It's only that we will see any strides made in medication and treatment for our illnesses because up to this point they couldn't care less about what's been wrong with the rest of us.

You'll all probably think I'm totally cracker-brained after this post.

John