In this family, a 10-year-old daughter -me- was part of the yearly scoliosis exam at her school, when she was pulled to the side and told to make an appointment with a specialist by the school nurse, who was not qualified to diagnose. The child was told some hopeful news; if she did have the condition, it was very slight, if any curvature was present at all. When the unconcerned family made an appointment several months later at the Children’s Hospital, they were told she had a 32-degree curve in two sections of her spine in the shape of an S, and each curve twisted opposite ways. The definition of scoliosis is the abnormal lateral curvature of the spine. This condition equally occurs in both genders and it is estimated that 6-9 million people in the United States have scoliosis. However, many will never know if they have scoliosis unless they get an x-ray of the spine or have symptoms. When told this, the parents were in shock while the child seemed to disconnect into her own world. The spine stood before her, twisted as a snake, vile as poison under her tongue. The snake looming over her, whispering like the Devil in her ear about the things people would say. Everybody could see the disarray of her spine, how she was a freak. 

    Suddenly, she was getting in the large truck her father had gotten several years ago. The noise of the engine and radio on 101.5 were the only sounds. Her father stared straight ahead. He couldn’t help but wonder how something so terrible could happen to his little girl. The doctors couldn’t even explain how this happened. Was it something he did? His daughter put her head on his arm and began to cry silently as he drove. Scared for what this meant. The mother was in her own car, as she and her ex-husband divorced over 8 years ago. Over the years, they learned to put the past behind them and get along to give their daughter a healthy home life. She cried for her daughter. Her peanut has no idea what this will bring. Who just finished therapy for separate reasons and will have to learn to deal with a weight she doesn’t comprehend yet. The weight of being different, not only mentally, but medically and physically now as well. 

    The child had a python constricting her mind constantly. The snake of self-hatred and shame. A snake that could easily break an adult, not to mention a child of her age. Yet she still held herself with false confidence and was always there for anyone who needed her and only depending on herself. She was doing it. She was okay. Until the day she broke. The weight on her shoulders had multiplied each time she had taken the pain away from others, and her “screwed” spine couldn’t support all of that weight with her own all at once. So, she collapsed. Her family rushed to find the right therapist. The first made things worse, the second only helped cope, and the fourth only added more pain (we don’t need to talk about the third). Then the fifth therapist came around and she expected another failure. But, after several years of searching, she had found one who could help her. She learned that these physical conditions are not burdens, only adaptations. Her body was different but that doesn’t have to define her mind, and she doesn’t have to face anything on her own. Needing help didn’t equate to being weak, in fact, it was the opposite. The child loved herself for the first time in years and learned that a happy person doesn’t have to be happy all of the time. They are humans with different emotions as well, and they were allowed to feel all of them. She was valid. She was happy. She was doing it. Not on her own, but that was okay because it was healthy and honest instead of deceiving herself. 

    Sometimes, even the happiest person in the world may need therapy for past trauma and the whispers of a snake in their ear. The deprecating thoughts of self-doubt and depression come to the best of people. There will always be obstacles for every individual. The veil of ignorance over people’s eyes only showed the perfection of a child who couldn’t possibly have any issues, because the child is given everything they needed and more. So they can’t be sad. They must suck it up like the rest of us. Even a 10-year-old child who couldn’t go to school without the burning flames from the mouths of dragons. Without the python slowly tightening day by day. Yet, she smiled, for a child must be happy.