capri0mni | I woke up this morning, and it finally crystalized in my brain about why that song bugs me so much:

IT'S NOT JUST WHAT YOU'RE BORN WITH
(Si Kahn)

It's not just what you're born with,
It's what you choose to bear
It's not how large your share is,
but how much you can share
Oh it's not the fights you dream of
But those you really fought
It's not just what you're given
But what you do with what you've got.

You must know someone like him
He was tall and strong and lean,
Body like a greyhound,
Mind so sharp and keen
But his heart just like a laurel,
Grew twisted on itself,
'Til almost everything he did
Brought pain to someone else

I start to squirm in my seat, during the second verse, though, and my singing along is a lot less enthusiastic:

For what's the use of two strong legs,
If you only run away?
What good is the finest voice,
If you've nothing good to say?
What good are strength and muscles,
If you only push and shove?
What's the use of two good ears,
If you can't hear those you love?

For, you see, the "Greek Ideal" still the reference point for what counts as a whole, and complete human being, even on the spiritual level.

But it's the final verse that really gets to me, and I have the urge to heckle (and it's not the because of the word "cripples," either):

Between those who use their neighbors,
And those who use a cane,
Those in constant power
And those in constant pain,
Between those who run to evil
And those who cannot run,
Tell me, which ones are the cripples,
And which ones touch the sun?*

What about those use a cane and use their neighbors? What about the evil legless man? This verse makes a clear distinction between the Able-Bodied and the Crippled. The Able-Bodied get defined by their character, and the Crippled by their bodies. And what's worse, the Crippled are given an automatic verdict of innocence.

That only works for babies, because you can only have moral responsibility if you have power.

I'm sorry. But I don't like being stuck at the Children's Table for my entire life because my body reminds you** of mortality, and makes you uncomfortable.

What's even worse, this song was, for several years (and it may be, still), seen as sort of an anthem for Disability Rights.

*(Copyright Joe Hill Music)

**That's the Figurative "You," of course, not the specific individuals on my f'list.