Living our lives day to day, it can be easy to take what we have for granted. We wake up, go to work, enjoy the company of loved ones, and go to sleep, without even giving it a second thought. Sure, many of us hit the occasional roadblock, but how often do we experience something truly tragic? For this man, however, life is a totally different story.
He may put on a brave face for friends and family, but that doesn’t make it any easier. Yes, this 29-year-old Philadelphia native has lived his entire life as Andrew, and he’ll bear that burden until the day he dies.
Absolutely heartbreaking.
While he’s learned to cope over the years, dealing with the fact that he is Andrew has by no means been easy. Every morning, he wakes up in his fourth-floor walkup. Every night, he goes to sleep with a stomach full of pasta. He endures several hours each day working in an open-plan office, and given his current situation, that is likely never going to change.
To be Andrew at any age would be tragic, but to have to face that so young? Practically unthinkable. Yet somehow, he remains optimistic and pushes forward, even though he will inevitably have to endure this for several decades to come.
Let’s face it: Try as we might to sympathize, we may never be able to understand what it would be like to live as Andrew. In spite of that, though, we can still learn a valuable lesson from his strength. If he can be Andrew and find the motivation to soldier on, then we can all stand to be a little better, work a little harder, and complain a little less.
So to him we say: Thank you, Andrew. You are an inspiration to all of us.
