SOMETIMES THE WORST THINGS ARE THE BEST THINGS

1 Oct 2023 · 1 min

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First-person spoken narrative (by Clegg) describing having polio as an infant, undergoing orthopedic treatment (bone stretching over ~30 days, prolonged casting), missing school, and later being bullied in seventh grade; the speaker frames these adversities as ultimately beneficial for personal resilience.

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One of the best things that ever happened to me in my life was the fact that I had polio as an infant. Was the fact that when I was growing up, other kids made fun of me. That was good. Oh, that was one of the best things ever happened for you. I'm gonna put these screws through your leg. We'll put this metal rack. We're turning these knobs every day. It's gonna stretch the bone in the middle of your leg 2 inches over a 30 day time period. But the problem is you won't be able to go to school. I said, if we do both legs, can I give you out for two months? Then they wrapped a cast around that. So I was in a cast for like six months. I remember it being the seventh grade. I'm at school, I'm coming down the steps, some kid pushed me down the steps. One of the best things that ever happened to me because I realized as a child that if I'm not going to be on my own team, I might not have a team.