When you are told that you have a lifelong disease such as MS there can be this immediate instinct to prove something.  "I am not going to let MS change me!" you might declare.  Others might proclaim, "I will beat this disease!"  Right before I was diagnosed with MS I imagined the two scenarios which could come to pass.  I thought that if I was told that I did not have MS that I would go run a marathon.  And then I thought that if I did get news that I had MS I would also run a marathon.  I giggled to myself at these thoughts.  I have never run in my life.  I don't particularly enjoy running.  Why on earth would I think to begin now?  What would I be proving?  Do I really need to plant a flag and declare myself the winner over my disease?  I too, however briefly, had bought into the notion that I must prove my worth through physical demonstrations of how I can "overcome" my disease.

There are a lot of heroes in this world and they need not always climb mountains or vanquish diseases. The true heroes in my mind are those who are surviving the day to day with Multiple Sclerosis.  My heroes are the ones who can show their vulnerability and say with piercing honesty that living with this disease can be very difficult.  The real heroes are the folk who are not high above us but the ones who walk with us. 

I like mountains.  They are wonderful to look at.  And if I loved climbing them I would do so with a passion.  But just because you or I have MS doesn't mean we have to take up rock climbing or bungee jumping in order to prove our worth.  Everyone has their mountain to climb in a symbolic sense.  We all have our challenges to face. But being quiet with our feet on the ground doesn't make our quest any less profound.