You look great!
Oh no, not this again
You look healthy
Please, don’t you understand?
Wow, how much are you exercising?
You have no idea

How do you make others understand?
We look normal
We have spirit
We care
We love life
We have dreams
We love solutions

But, the truth is
We struggle every day
We tread the waters to try to remain calm and productive
We don’t know where to turn except to each other
We want to be brave
We don’t want to bring others down
We don’t have answers
We are scared of the future
We don’t want sympathy,
We want respect and understanding

But the truth is,
We are living the hidden disability
It won’t go away, but will progress
The pain won’t stop, but it will increase
It won’t allow us physical freedom, but will cripple us

You look great!
Thanks, I appreciate that
You look healthy
Thanks for the compliment

I guess we should be happy we look good to all of you
I guess the rest remains hidden
If only you wanted to know the real truth
But, what would we gain by telling you!

Submitted by Ellen Smith, © 2006 butyoudontlooksick.com