Robert E. Lee

On my walk today on the river trail I met one of my favorite people- Robert E. Lee. no of course not the famous Confederate General-although he was a favorite of mine but this Robert E. Lee is a former patient of mine. He fell and broke his hip and was in my facility for rehab.
Robert is a mentally challenged man- a happy soul. Always a smile on his face and very proud that he was a boy scout! He had an album of pictures of his scout troop and was always wanting to show it to us. He was in excrutiating pain when he first came to my facility but never complained- he didn't realize he could ask for pain medicine so us nurses always gave him his medicine as often as possible. Other people cry and complain constantly witha lot less severe pain but not Robert- he wanted to go home and back to work- he was also proud of the fact that he worked at a local hotel and he rode his bicycle everywhere. Well as I was walking along the trail today a man passed me on a bicycle , he said hi as he passed and soon as he said that I recogonized  him so we stopped and talked for a while.He still had his smile and although it has been 2 years since he was at the facility he still recogonized me.You never think too much about the mentally challenged-people tend to judge them like they have no mind but I have found out that is not true.what really does "normal" mean? Robert was telling me about a man on a motor bike riding down the trail and he said that was  "against the rules"- only bicycles were allowed on the trail. It just amazed me how many of us so called "normal " people break the rules and think nothing of it and a simple person like Robert understands and when he is told not to do something he follows that advice. I have come across other people like Robert in my career and most are the same. It made me stop and think how many times I have broken simple rules and never thought anything of it. If we all followed the rules like Robert this world would be a better place.
Thank you Robert E.Lee