Hemophilia and the Borders of Life

Abstract

The borders of any individual’s life will be set by the circumstances into which he is born and which encompasses his childhood and the use that he and others may make of any chances that may occur for changing those borders and circumstances over the following years. Those chances may be dictated purely by fate, or they may be created by the person involved or those close to him. There will be some borders which are immovable and others which in some circumstances may seem so, but which in fact can be moved by a degree of extra consideration. For example, there is no way that a woman can become a firefighter, involved with putting out fires in houses and factories, because generally she is considered physically unsuited to the job and nothing will change that particular border in her life. In parts of the United Kingdom there is a minimum height level of 6 feet for men wishing to join the police force, and again, there is nothing that a shorter man can do to change that, no matter how desperate he may be to become a policeman in that area. However, he has the chance to change his life’s borders radically by moving to a different area of the country where the minimum height level is less and where he may be accepted. Thus it is with hemophilia.