Laurie:  Confession:  I can be intolerant.  I am fully aware that my friends are rolling their eyes and asking “What else is new?”  But if   you  question the power of a blog, I am living proof that sometimes life-altering views can be stimulated by the words of a blogger.  I’m a believer that health afflictions come in fads.  RLS (restless leg syndrome), ADD (attention deficit disorder), peanut allergies, and gluten intolerance (so new and cool, it doesn’t even have its own set of initials to identify it) seem to be the “in” diseases of the new millennium.  And I am not so heartless to pooh-pooh them, but I have more than once questioned their validity as I suffered through a waiter being grilled by a concerned patron about what knife touched food and where the olive oil comes from.  And yes, I thought it was a tad over the top.  But then I read a blog by a dear friend who wrote about Celiac Sprue and how she was forced to deal with it, and even more importantly, deal with the way people responded to her disease.  And the light shone on my intolerant self.

elizabeth:  My eyes are still rolled back into my head – one of my cats is writing this.  I think if one has some medical condition that is as familiar to us like cancer or as new as gluten intolerance, we should just be thankful that we don’t have to deal with it personally, but we do have to deal with someone who does with compassion. And you know, something will get all of us. So if someone’s life has been knocked down by some ailment that falls into the category of the unfamiliar, we should keep our impatience about how people handle their lives to ourselves. No, I take that back. We should take a look at ourselves and why we are reacting like that. These people did nothing wrong. They got sick and are trying to live their lives the best they can. So ask away how foods are prepared.

Laurie:  So I don’t want to say that I won’t be embarrassed when my friends torture a waiter about the origin of every piece of food on their plate.  I will definitely be concerned that the cook and the waiter are back in the kitchen spitting on all the entrees before bringing them out.  But I will also respect the reason why this is necessary and grudgingly accept that until skeptics like me are convinced that this is a serious disease, the need to over-react is valid.  If you’d like to read the blog that started this blog, click here:  http://ronniburns.wordpress.com/ .

elizabeth: Maybe your friend should tell the wait staff that they have some food allergies that could be harmful to them. Take it out of the  closet.

BTW – when I go out for breakfast with someone (who will remain nameless) I do have certain ways I would like my eggs prepared and I do request that they don’t run off the plate. And I get what I want and need. So should your friend and anyone with Celiac Sprue.

© 2010, Coaches on the Edge ™

If you would like to learn more about Laurie, please go to her site: Empowered Life Journeys.

Stop by at elizabeth’s site at: Coaching for the Creative Soul

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