Justice for Corrie (Badge of Honor: Texas Heroes Book 3)

By Susan Stoker

Being blind since birth has not prevented Corrie Madison from honing her other senses. Never did she imagine that she will be using them to identify a killer, much so outrunning him when he comes after her. 

Officer Quint Axton wasn’t looking for a relationship until he meets Corrie. As the threats in Corrie’s life escalate, Quint realizes that if he wants to spend the rest of his life with her, he must do all he can to keep her alive.

Justice for Corrie was, to me, a reminder that physical weakness should never define a person. I know this is easier said than done, and some might say that I am being insensitive to what others would think of as anomalies or imperfections. Yes, to others, these imperfections cause their feelings of inadequacy. For being “undesirable, less than.”

But, Corrie. She is blind, but she survived, right? 

She’s a fictional character, some would say, and therefore, not real. Of course, Susan Stoker would make sure that her heroine would rise above her assigned plot twist, right? Of course, Corrie needs a happily ever after, right?

Yes, not everyone gets a happily ever after. Yes, not all physical weaknesses—acquired at birth, or inherited—can be healed. 

BUT, and I mean BUT—everyone has the right to overcome a physical disability. 

Everyone has the right to thrive. Most of all, everyone has the right to learn how to use their physical disabilities to their advantage. It is up to us, to lead the way. 

To those who say I am trivializing an issue best swept under the rug, I ask, how about our wounded veterans? Should we just say thank you for your service, goodbye?

Should we tell a polio victim—one whose hands and mind are 100 percent functional—that they can’t be important members of society? President Lincoln would turn in his grave if that was the case!

For that matter—should we tell a blind person that he or she cannot become an active member of the workforce simply because they cannot see? 

Or maybe those of us who believe that these men and women—whose handicaps were never their choice—maybe they are more capable of making the world we live in a better place. 

So no, blindness, or any physical handicap, for that matter, should never be seen as a weakness, but as a strength that should be overcome and honed to perfection.