Tuesday, February 27, 2007

Guilt by Paula Apodaca

Paula has elequently penned another great post concerning the guilt many of those with epilepsy feel with regards to how their condition affects those around them. I tried to select a favoite part, but the whole post was super awesome. Here are the first two paragraphs to whet your appetite...

Guilt connects deep inside of us at that vague junction between an action taken and an action withheld. A core understanding of E. is the recognition that as persons with it, we cannot control the actions of our seizures with certainty. Epileptics and their families learn how to keep silent about the condition, preferring not to speak too loudly about it because to do so might engender more problems than support. In that silence we quietly learn to devalue ourselves. We learn to be guilty.

There is little social history we can lean on to make us feel more comfortable. We can become fixed on our own relationship to epilepsy and can spend huge amounts of time and energy on it. Rarely have any of us seen ourselves seize, but many of us have experienced the aftermath of a seizure’s power and the residual effect it can have on those around us.

1 comment:

Paula Apodaca said...

I am very touched that you would write something so kind about my post. I will forever feel I have achieved
that elusive thing writers strive for because of you: communication with another.

Thanks and keep reading...
Paula
E. Is for Epilepsy by Paula Apodaca
http://www.epilepsy-paula.blogspot.com