MS IS NO PAPER TIGER

Ask my daughter or anyone who knows me well and they’ll be certain of one thing I’ve always loved doing. See, I love watching documentaries (courtesy of Netflix of course), particularly about history and people and especially the ones about wildlife. I’m fascinated by the majestic animals of Africa. One I watched recently shook me up a bit and I didn't realize why until the other day.

The film was about a young tiger that was being followed, actually stalked, by an older tiger. The young male apparently had wandered into the senior tigers territory and he became, well, a bit angry. Realizing he was being followed, “junior” I’ll call him, climbed a tree and finding a large limb to rest upon, tried to do just that. But as it turned out, no rest was to be had for the weary. Upon surveying his surrounding junior spotted the big guy eyeing him up in the tree, at which time junior lost control of his bladder and everything else. Poor thing. He was just plain scared. I felt terrible for him being pursued that way, and instinctually fearing his fate.

That old tiger was relentless in his pursuit of junior and I’ve now come to feel that multiple sclerosis is also just as a relentless an adversary, and one many of us have to face daily. MS is tirelessly relentless in its’ pursuit of our body’s ability to move, our minds ability to think clearly and our hearts ability to hope.

Many of us continually seek that safe space where we can feel better, get better, and then too often when we do, our adversary once again appears, coming out from around the figurative bush where the Monster has been lurking all along bringing an exacerbation with him.

This relentless enemy is but one I've faced during my life. This Monster is brash, he's bold, and he is very real. And I am determined to subdue him before he overtakes me, because like the title says, MS is no paper tiger.