Jessica PingI’ve stared at a wide range of butts in my day. I apologize if that sounds crass, but it’s my reality. Anytime I am sitting in my wheelchair with someone standing in front of me, the first thing my eyes have to focus on is someone else’s derriere. To say the least, it’s not exactly my favorite view.
As a twenty-two year old woman who loves to see the world and experience new things, I frequently find myself in situations where I am forced to hover around one person’s hiney for an unbelievable amount of time. When visiting amusement parks and museums, the situation is nearly impossible to avoid and don’t even get me started on public transportation. All of that said, in those situations, if I am patient, my view eventually opens up to a beautiful rollercoaster, a splendid exhibit, or the open doors of an underground train. Hardly ever do I miss things due my size alone. This is partially because I do have the ability to stand for short periods of time, but also because I am persistent and wait things out. There are certain situations in life, however, where patience alone will not grant you the desired result.
This year, for Labor Day weekend, I went to visit my extended family in Cincinnati, Ohio. My uncle was hosting his annual cookout, and while the hamburgers were tasty, our biggest motivation for the trip was an event called Boom on the Bridge. Every Labor Day, Cincinnati presents one of the largest fireworks displays in the country right in the middle of the Ohio River and bookended by two major bridges. It truly is a sight to see and due to scheduling conflicts, I haven’t been able to go for almost a decade. As I am moving to London, England at the beginning of 2020, I figured that if I didn’t go this year, I may never have the opportunity to see the show again.
So, to Cincinnati we went!
Everytime I thought about the event, though I was excited, my heart began to beat a little faster and my breathing stifled. This extreme reaction can partly be blamed on the recent increase in gun violence here in the United States, but a larger reason being that large crowds make me absurdly uncomfortable. Not only is my view clogged by dozens of posteriors, but I also tend to feel physically and metaphorically small when hundreds of human beings are towering over me.
Before heading to the event, I gave myself a pep talk about standing. I normally don’t like to stand for more than 10 minutes at a time due to my weak ankle and sore knee, but if I wanted to enjoy the complete firework show, I’d have to manage for at least a half an hour.
When we arrived at the park, my brain was immediately consumed by the hordes of people surrounding me. Even with the delicious smell of fried food in the distance, my mind could only focus on getting to a clearing, FAST.
My family pushed me around bend after bend managing to avoid all of the sugary lemonade sloshing out of plastic cups and people typing on their phones. As we were looking for a place to set up camp, something surprising happened. A stranger who I would later learn was named Ken Wagner approached my family and told us about his group of friends. Every year, they get to the firework show as early as possible, sometimes even staking out prime locations at 3 or 4 in the morning. They do not do this for their own benefit, but to help out the disabled/elderly community. Their efforts aided at least a dozen individuals with physical impairments this year alone. After talking with another member of the unofficial group, Angie Schneider, I found out that they not only assist with this show, but that they travel to different displays around the country to offer the same service without any recognition or compensation for their work.
These people provided me with a butt-free view of the fireworks that night, but, more importantly, they made me feel seen, heard, and valued as an individual.
Thank you to Rick Clark, Kim Clark, Gina Cywanowicz, Ken Wagner, and Angie Schneider for ensuring my family had a spectacular experience and thank you to those working the official Boom on the Bridge event for providing such a unique experience.
Forever inspired by the kindness of humanity.
Originally published on September 12, 2019
