Chris Rathje

Truth is an odd word.

Does absolute truth exist?

I know my truth exists.

I know others have truth.

But where does that leave us?

Right exists for me
Right exists for you,

But who gets to define truth for ALL of US?

Love people for who they are and what they aspire to be!

Acceptance is love.

We all have a wonderful opportunity! The opportunity to be in this together, however this is not some right, or some law; it is a choice. Please choose to open your mind to this reality.

What bonds us together is a universal right to explore.

Each one of us has a right to:
Our individual growth
Our individual joy
Our individual truth

I might not always understand your growth, your joy, or your truth.

But I will always love and accept you. Thank you for being my siblings in this harmonious journey.

I might never discover absolute truth, but the beauty of love is close enough for me.

Thanks for reading
Chris

Hello to all that are visiting my site for the first time thanks to the gracious story that WMAQ and my friend Dick Johnson reported on January 19th.

I have not posted much recently on my site after the completion of my first manuscript in late November.

I am currently developing my second and third manuscripts and am eager to pursue professional speaking engagements.

Thank you to so many for all the blessings I have been given!

PLEASE ALWAYS FOLLOW YOUR JOY!

Thanks for reading
Chris

I just wanted to share a great piece on wheelchair rugby.  It is from the Rick Mercer Report in Canada.  Rick has done other pieces on disabled sports and he always shows great respect while looking at the humorous side of sport.

The video also features one of my favorite rugby brothers Mr. Dave Willsie!

http://www.cbc.ca/video/#/Shows/The_Rick_Mercer_Report/ID=1334953026

Hope you enjoy!

Thanks for reading

Chris

The relationship a wheelchair user has with his or her wheelchair is pretty unique. The best analogy I have come up with is your chair is part car, part shoes, and part baby when compared to our able bodied counterparts.

There are growing pains and learning curves with new chairs. I think it is pretty typical that someone has a sore back for ten days to two weeks after a new chair becomes part of the family, but a chair user takes so much pride in their new shiny life mobilization device!

I personally take a lot of pride in my last two everyday chairs because I had some hand in designing them with special features in search of the best chair I could possibly get.

I am dedicating this post to Denny Muha who was my college wheelchair basketball teammate. He gets to celebrate new chair day today! After six years it is time to look forward to a new chair.

I am sure there will be growing pains, but I have a feeling the next stage of his life while using this chair could take him to new places of his dreams and places he hasn’t even dreamed of yet.

Denny has launched a new venture which is called disablog.com, which is a website that is dedicated to disability related topics. I look very forward to contributing to it for many years to come.

It is the perfect portal to share some of my ideas with the world. It is a place where we can celebrate our differences in the context of LIVING each day to its fullest!

Take the time to celebrate something you never have before.

Happy Chair Day Dennis!

Thanks for reading

Chris

Recently I believe I have been able to understand people and the world that surrounds me better then ever before. This sharper view of the world has little to do with skill and everything to do with perspective.
I have realized over the last several years that disliking or hating a person, place, or thing is [...]

I came up with the saying Cut the Fat or Something Like That, after reading many of my own posts from the past.
Some of my earlier work lacks focus. I went off on tangents. Many of these tangents were worthwhile points, but they did not match the rest of the post.
My mind is [...]

I believe there are so many situations in life where we are expected to feel ashamed. There are incredible pressures to fit in and desire what others want.
There are many times when we are expected to reach certain goals by a certain age or accumulate a certain amount of green paper. I have [...]

As I begin to blog again after completing my manuscript for Don’t Be Afraid to Eat Soup with a Fork, I had a few other ideas about lessons I learned during the challenging task I just completed, but this is the right place to begin.

I believe we are at our best when we are born, [...]

Brain Poppings from the Pixar Movie Cars
The movie Cars teaches many great lessons including the title of this piece.
Here are some of my thoughts:
Teamwork is extremely important.  Always try to make your team better.
Sometimes you need to rest.
You never know when your enviroment is going to change.
Be open to new skills a.k.a. parts.
Make sure to [...]