Eric's Beijing Diary

Had a bum leg the past few days. It's my fault. A few days ago, I was going somewhere with my laptop, and instead of putting the shoulder strap over my head and on the opposite shoulder, I just hung it loosely. But as I was dismounting, it started to slide off, so I shifted my body quickly and twisted my leg in the process. Stupid. But the experience has opened my eyes. I found out legs are important. Never really had leg problems before. I think we tend to take our legs for granted. I remember many years ago hearing a movie star on a talk show announcing to everyone without any sense of shame that she had just insured her legs with Lloyd's of London. I thought she was nuts. Now I'm thinking of taking out a policy on my own legs. Can't really do without them. I sometimes wonder, you know, what it would be like to be a handicapped person in China. In America, handicapped people have motorized wheel chairs with ramps everywhere. In China, I often see handicapped people scooting along the ground. Things are slowly getting better. They just built a wheel chair ramp at the dormitory. But it's not for me (I hope!).