One has a choice iafter a TBI: to laugh or to cry. Artist Ginny Ruffner thinks a TBI is like the universe having a really wicked sense of humor ... but she shows that determination and humor can outmatch any challenge.
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How humor helps me is, I think this is really absurd.
I mean, look at this. The fact that I can't talk like everybody else,
I can't walk as fast, I think that's really absurd.
And it's funny in an ironic sort of way.
Mainly, I think that one has a choice,
in any situation, whether to laugh or cry.
So why not laugh? It's pretty funny.
It's--I'm thinking, what is it?
The universe has a really wicked sense of humor,
saying, okay, you like to be active and dance and move around,
then bam! Make it so you can't move.
You like challenges? Here's a challenge.
Or you like to talk; you like to sing.
Well, boom! Here's a challenge.
What are you going to do now, Smarty Pants?
The reason I started walking after being in a wheelchair for 5 years
was 2 reasons; both of them probably qualify as vanity.
I hate to be ignored, and when you're in a wheelchair
people talk to the person pushing your wheelchair.
You pretty much get ignored, which
is extremely aggravating for me.
And the other reason was I had just bought my house.
And the walls were all nicely painted,
and I kept banging into them, and I thought,
"This ain't going to work."
So I was in the house for 2 weeks
and I decided, okay, I'm going to walk,
because I don't want to mess up my house.
Produced by Victoria Tilney McDonough, Ashley Gilleland, and Jared Schaubert, BrainLine.
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