Face Transplant

Did you see the photos and news report of the lady who "lost her face in 2004, Connie Culp? It happened when a bullet ripped away her nose, cheeks and upper jaw. Metal fragments sprayed into her skull and stripped her face away, leaving nothing except for her eyes, her chin and forehead. She did not even have a nose with which to smell. Quite horrible and amazing she survived, I think. Yet the other day her new face, the one transplanted and formed surgically, was revealed.
Well, Ms. Culp thanked the doctors and the deceased woman whose face was transplanted. It was evident that she is not well educated, but learned the true meaning of life in that there is hope and struggle can bring riches undreamed of before. Now Ms. Culp can walk in society normally and not be subjected to stares and retributions. Though she has had many surgeries and many more to come for cosmetic reasons, the story is uplifting amid the stupidity most of the world media promulgates as news.
This must explain why it is a back page story, second to the swine flu and reality TV review mess we get to see up front. I think the procedure is a medical miracle, one that should be trumpeted as a display of what humans can do when faced with gloomy odds, and not a cosmetic operation. Restoring that woman's face has restored her soul and will to live. To, it has changed her attitude as much as it has transformed her physical appearance and facial functionality.
She spoke at the news conference revealing the miracle and asked the public to have empathy for people with facial disfigurements. She herself a real life image of what we should all do as humans- judge others on the content of their character, not the beauty of their outward image. "Don't judge the people who don't look the same way as you do. You never know when it may be taken away from you she said".I remember a remark by George Bernard Shaw of which Ms. Culp's appearance reminded . "Remember always that the least plain sister is the family beauty."