Not a handicap

Life has taught Ronald Jenkins, Jr. that “everyone has their own cross to bare,” but that doesn’t have to determine what you are able to accomplish.
Jenkins said, “My cross to bare is more obvious than some people’s because I am missing an arm, but everyone has one. It’s important that you don’t let that define you.”
The 45-year-old, who was raised in Pine Prairie, has been working at the Ville Platte Walmart for the past year unloading heavy boxes of inventory for the store’s meat department.
While it seems like this would be a difficult task for someone that was born with one arm, Jenkins says it has become a normal part of life for him.
“Of course it was hard at first, because of how heavy some of the boxes are,” said Jenkins. “But, after doing it for a little while, it has become a natural thing.”
When it comes to Jenkins’ work ethic, one of the store’s managers Crystal Richard said, “Ronald does anything and everything, and he never complains. His disability has never been something that he let get in the way of his work. It’s really amazing.”
Even with one of his arms missing, Jenkins has done things that some people would think were impossible for him such as climbing trees as a child, driving a standard, and even playing the piano a little bit.
Jenkins said, “There were things I wanted to try but wouldn’t just because I feared failure, but once I got over that, which is the hardest part for a lot of people, I realized that if you set your mind to something, you can do it. As a child people would tell my mom (Laura Jenkins) that I couldn’t climb trees, but I wanted to. When I tried it out, and saw that I could, I knew that if I wanted to do something I just had to go for it.”
Now, as an employee at Walmart Jenkins uses what some people see as a handicap as a way to have fun with the people he interacts with on the job. The way that he chooses to make light of his situation is something that he learned from a man he met nearly 20 years ago that was missing a finger.
“When I met this guy that was missing a finger he told me that when people ask him what happened he comes up with an elaborate story to tell. That was so long ago, but ever since then I started doing the same thing,” said Jenkins. “Kids are the most fun because when they see me working they aren’t afraid to ask what happened to my arm.”
Although Jenkins tells a variety of different stories, he always tries to make sure that kids can learn a lesson from him.
Jenkins said, “I try to always tell them a funny story that can teach them something like, I might tell them that I didn’t eat all of my vegetables so my arm didn’t finish growing. Another one that I’ve told kids before is that I was a Major League Baseball pitcher and I threw the ball so hard that my arm flew off. The kids think that is so funny.”
The reason why Jenkins is able to have fun with the fact that he was born without one arm is because he considers himself lucky to have been missing his left arm since birth.
Jenkins said, “This is the only way I have ever known life, so I can’t imagine it any other way. The people I feel bad for are the ones that have lost a limb in war or by a combine because they have to learn how to live completely different. For me, I’m just getting by like I always have.”