Comment by sillysaurusx | Hacker News Reader

Comment by sillysaurusx | Hacker News Reader

I see a lot of people here felt moved by this writing. I wanted to share another that recently moved me: Two Arms and a Head https://web.archive.org/web/20110107100235/http://www.2arms1...

It's written by someone who became a paraplegic. You may have seen it on HN recently, but maybe not.

It's not something that you can consume in a few minutes. But it's worth reading in its entirety. It really, truly helps you appreciate just how much most of us have in life.

I apologize if this is tangential. But it was such an incredible experience to read it that I wanted to share it with someone. I haven't felt my perspective about life change that much by a single work before.

It's a longform essay on life, happiness, morals, philosophy, ethics, and someone's personal journey through the pits of hell. It's also an extended suicide note that might make you rethink certain aspects of society. But it also has a certain flavor of humor:

I have not been an author for long (and won’t be one for long!) ...

For some excerpts, I compiled a list that struck me while reading: https://twitter.com/theshawwn/status/1208678324928700417

Here's the website directly: http://www.2arms1head.com/

Thread for anyone who's interested: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21729056

Very similar topic, also recommended: Johnny Got His Gun by Dalton Trumbo.

Thank you for sharing this. I think this is the most important thing I've been linked to in a long time.

This may be even more tangential, but I was really struck by how emphatic he is about pointing out his suffering, and how frustrated he is with other people that have his same injury minimizing the pain of living with it. I've seen that same discourse go on and on with people that suffer from my condition. Not "disabled" as such, but another issue that impacts your life in a large way and often needs medical intervention. Some people claiming that their condition doesn't limit them in any real way and shouldn't be considered a problem and in fact makes them stronger and others angry at them for even making claims like that when so much of our existence is this fundamental pain, and when medical intervention isn't always covered by insurance or researched as much as it could be. Then those first people mad at the second group for implying that everybody with this condition should feel limited, etc. I thought that the dialogue was unique but in retrospect all similar groups probably go through this to some extent for the reasons he pointed out.

Wow. When I clicked the link and saw its length I didn't think I would read it all but I just finished it in one sitting. Tremendously sad, yet I couldn't help but laugh at times. Clayton certainly has a way with words.

As an able-bodied young man I could never truly understand the depth of his suffering. I'm actually shocked at the emotional response I felt from reading this. Incredibly moving.

Good read. For anyone wanting to find more it appears his real name was Clayton Billiam Schwartz https://www.legacy.com/obituaries/greenwichtime/obituary.asp... https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/3693/?name=clayt...

He actually had a thread on a motorcycle forum detailing the trip and comments post accident https://advrider.com/f/threads/seattle-to-argentina-on-a-klr...

I just finished reading the whole thing. It was definitely an honest and transparent testament to his (and others') struggle. I wouldn't say I felt moved by it, but I take away a renewed perspective in life, an understanding of how good I have it, and insight into what potentially the worst possible fate is.

To anyone else that may see this link: use Firefox compatibility-view.

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