patient and waiting for the chance to ask,
a woman in the back stands to say
“my patients are asking, ‘why me?’ and i don’t know what to say.”
there, right there, i wanted to shift my body weight from my butt to my feet, throw my arms up in the air and say, “EXACTLY!”
that’s why we are here
that’s why people with diabetes are work work workin’ to contribute to the diabetes online community.
that question, among others, is why we reach out with open arms and hearts and minds to strangers who are only qualified to propose an answer because of their exposure to the same tough life circumstance that brings the questions.
why not just seek answers on our own?
why not just look inward, or at faith, or to science?
because being in a space where others are also asking, “why me” transforms the question entirely:
instead of asking “why me?”, you wonder “why us?”
inclusive. enlightening. loving. moving. inspiring. transformative.
there is nothing more powerful than community
nothing more powerful for the individual
and nothing more powerful for the collective.
the end.
ps. i’m not the only one thinking this, right?:
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this post was inspired by a session at ADA scientific sessions 2014 in san francisco. i applied for and received a media pass to the conference. i will be posting more about this conference and you can find other accounts at the perfect d, your diabetes may vary, six until me, scott’s diabetes, diabetes hands foundation, our diabetic life, sweetly voiced, a consequence of hypoglycemia, the blood sugar whisperer, and on twitter with #DOCatADA and #2014ADA. if you have covered the conference and are not linked here, please let me know and i will add you to the list.
Unexpected Blues 
Great post! We make sense of ourselves and everything else in community, diabetes is no different we NEED each other to laugh & cry with and just make sense of the bizarre lifestyle but not by choice that is diabetes.
Thank you for reading and sharing your thoughts! You know I’m right there with you. We are all right here together, which is why the space is so truly magnificent!!
What a great group of DOC representatives at the Scientific Sessions. I look forward to reading all of the news from each one of you. Heather, your voice always gives a unique view of what is going on. Poetic prose, right? Christel will be thorough and inspiring. Bennet will be scientific, organized, and misspelled. Kerri will be on-point, a bit humorous, and occasionally odd. Scott will be the every-man, every-woman, and every-diabetic representative motivating us with grilled cheese and diet coke. Manny will embrace every person with diabetes of any type of any language in the whole wide world. Meri will make me cry several times before the sessions are over. Melissa will say exactly what I would have said except that she sings better than I do. Chris will manage to interview every person attending the event and get a paycheck because this is his job. Allison will wow us with her wisdom and experience while reminding us that everyone with diabetes needs a hug.
Thanks to all of you!!!
This is such a beautiful comment, Laddie. Thank you, and yes, you are right, we all offer something different. What I love about Test, Guess, and Go, is that you have many unique voices in one place. Everything is covered on your site from advocacy to life happenings, to event coverage. I hope you’ll be at Friends For Life? It would be such a delight to meet you.
I won’t be at Friends for Life, but I because I spend my winters in the Phoenix area, I will look forward to meeting you in 2015. Abby the Black Lab at 80 pounds will for sure adopt a submissive pose to acknowledge to Lancet the Pug that he is the top diabetes dog:-)
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