Without legs in Las Vegas

So… there I was in downtown LasVegas and there he was, propped up against a trash can unable to stand. I bent down to speak with him and he said, “You know why I don’t shave anymore (slight laugh), because I can’t stand tall enough to see the mirror.”

His wife was in his wheelchair about 10 feet away. She was not asking for money, just a loan cigarette. She was in the chair to rest as she is usually on foot all day as the two are homeless.

Both of his legs were amputated due to extensive cardiovascular disease. In some cases doctors are able to move veins from one location to another in order to allow for better blood flow. In other cases, that is not possible.

Sometimes it is not possible due to costs so amputation is done as a last resort on a visit to the emergency room. Other times, grants are available for those without insurance to have such surgeries completed - if it is caught in time. I do not know what occurred in this case, nor did I ask as it was in the past.

Author Shannon L. Alder once said, “Before you call yourself a Christian, Buddhist, Muslim, Hindu or any other theology, learn to be human first.” Interesting statement. While those beliefs named are nowhere similar to one another all have one item in common. Humans follow those religions.

If we could only see through titles and learn to talk to others suffering. Listen to others going through struggles - then perhaps harmony would be easier. Life may even be easier for this man without legs because more would stop with ideas on ways to help. Maybe those with different religions would then work to put ideas into action.

Rent is cheaper in Vegas

“On a good day I may make $60,” he told me while sitting in his motorized wheelchair in LasVegas.

Originally calling Southern California home he decided to make the move to LasVegas in the late 70’s. Later, he moved back to California for a short stay and then again made the trek to Vegas because he said it was cheaper to rent in the town of bright lights than Cali, “I pay $400 a month for my motel room.”

““On a good day I may make $60,” he told me while sitting in his motorized wheelchair in LasVegas.

Originally calling Southern California home he decided to make the move to LasVegas in the late 70’s. Later, he moved back to California for a short stay and then again made the trek to Vegas because he said it was cheaper to rent in the town of bright lights than Cali, “I pay $400 a month for my motel room.”

Las Vegas was and is a hard town that will make you pay for your inability to restrain your desires.... If you have a weakness, Las Vegas will punish you.”

— HAL ROTHMAN, Neon Metropolis

Addiction happens long before the injury

He sat quietly with his dog on a bridge over the bustling Las Vegas strip. Alone. His hat sat in front of his knee in hopes of those passing would drop a dollar to help him survive.

“I use to play professional poker,” he told me. As our conversation continued I realized it was not the poker that he lost to.

It was an accident that sent him to the hospital with a back injury. He then almost whispered as he told me that he was prescribed painkillers that he quickly grew addicted to. When the prescriptions ran out, the heroin began.

Methadone is his next step in life as he aims to get off of the heroin.

“My opinion: Opioid addiction happens because of previous trauma long before the injury that led to the prescription.”

— Scott Walker

Why do some grow addicted to drugs and alcohol while some do not? I do not know, but I can guess. That guess would be a previous trauma long before the injury.

The traumas could be any number of pains in life, from domestic violence to war. From child abuse to sex abuse. From witnessing a loved one murdered to watching a friend die a painful death. We all have our own trauma that we learn to medicate without proper help.

Once that medication wears off, the pain comes back greater than before. More detailed than first remembered. More real than reality.

“Numbing the pain for a while will make it worse when you finally feel it.”

— J.K. Rowling

A room of her own

She shares only a bedroom with a local resident, but you would think she has a palace. When she describes that room, her eyes light up like a child inside a candy store for the first time.

Previously living on the streets of what some call “Sin City,” she has a special appreciation for clean sheets and a pillow to rest her head on at night.

It is interesting... Today we can look around while standing in a crowd of 1,000 at a large church and see smiling faces from every walk of life wearing their Sunday best. But inside, we are unable to tell what they hide.

Some of those that you see daily have a past that is more painful than your past. Some are struggling with current pain that is undeniably ugly, dark and scary… but they hide it in public to an extent that you would never know. I am not talking about their sins that they participate in outside of the church walls, I am talking about pains thrown at them.

American actor Will Smith once stated, “Never underestimate the pain of a person, because in all honesty, everyone is struggling. Some people are better at hiding it than others.” Truer words have never been spoken.