What I Learned from Walking with a Cane

Using a cane for the first time since my student days made me realize how differently the world appears when one small, inconvenient object becomes necessary. It also made me think about disability, visibility, and the limits of my own empathy.

Walking with a cane for the first time since my student days made me realize something.

The world looks completely different depending on whether or not you are carrying one extra, troublesome, yet very useful stick.

It is not easy to say simply what is good and what is bad.

But in any case, a cane is basically nothing but a nuisance.

And yet, although it is a nuisance, I need it.

I find myself unsure how to describe such a thing.

When I thanked my mother on LINE for the cane, she replied:

“Take care of yourself. Your father will protect you.”

When she put it that way, I felt I could not treat the cane merely as an inconvenience. So I have been using it carefully.

Yesterday was my first day walking with a cane.

It helped that many people immediately recognized that I was using one.

I could sit in the priority seats without hesitation.

Yesterday, at the hospital, a laboratory technician was surprised to see me walking with a cane. When I explained that I was using it as a precaution—“a cane before a fall,” so to speak—she seemed relieved.

She said,

“It’s good, isn’t it? People around you can understand.”

Only now have I realized the importance of letting others know that one has some kind of physical difficulty.

Every morning, I take a bus to the hospital where I work.

There are many people on that bus who have disabilities—or perhaps it would be more accurate to say, people who are not feeling well.

I asked myself whether I had really shown enough consideration for such people.

As a pathologist, I naturally understand that people in hospital rooms and operating rooms are patients, and that they are unwell.

But what about when I step outside that world?

What have I actually been doing?

At most, I have helped people get baby strollers on and off the bus.

The other day, before I injured my foot, I gave up my seat to someone wearing a Help Mark. But it was a priority seat, so that was only natural.

To think that I had been living day to day with only this level of awareness and action makes me feel rather ashamed as a medical professional.

Unfortunately, I do not seem to have had much of what one might call “consideration for the vulnerable.”

To care for such people means, first of all, to be aware that they are there.

And then, it means trying to imagine how they feel.

Sooner or later, I myself will become truly “vulnerable.”

Until then, how I choose to act may determine the state of mind I will have when that time comes.

In that sense, this injury has made me think about something important.

Perhaps it has not been entirely bad after all.

A cane may be inconvenient, but it has shown me a part of the world I had not properly seen.

・・・

Vocabulary for Learners

cane
A stick used to support someone while walking.
杖。

nuisance
Something annoying, troublesome, or inconvenient.
邪魔なもの、厄介なもの。

inconvenience
A situation or object that causes trouble or difficulty.
不便、不都合。

Take care of yourself
A common phrase used to tell someone to look after their health.
お大事に。

priority seat
A seat reserved for elderly people, pregnant women, people with disabilities, or others who need it.
優先席。

without hesitation
Without feeling unsure or embarrassed.
ためらわずに。

as a precaution
Done in advance to prevent something bad from happening.
念のため、予防的に。

physical difficulty
A condition that makes moving or walking difficult.
身体的な不自由。

show consideration for
To think about another person’s needs or feelings and act accordingly.
〜に配慮する。

Help Mark
A Japanese sign showing that a person may need assistance or consideration, even if their difficulty is not visible.
ヘルプマーク。

the vulnerable
People who are in a weaker or more difficult position and may need support.
弱い立場にある人、支援を必要とする人。

be aware that they are there
To notice the existence of people one had not really seen before.
その人たちの存在に気づく。

state of mind
One’s mental or emotional condition.
心持ち、心の状態。

#Cane #Empathy #DisabilityAwareness #Aging #DailyEssay #JapaneseEssay #ColoKen