An ex-student of mine sent me this link today. It's about an unlikely hero:
Watch it with a box of tissues nearby. What this does make me wonder, though, is whether an entire school's-worth of kids --including the popular ones -- would scream and leap to their feet for a child who is less obviously "autistic" than this wonderful boy, but still different from the mainstream. I guess I'm thinking of Ben, here. It's hard to imagine two hundred typical kids treating him like a hero, no matter what his achievement.
Still, this is a Very Good Thing. Not to be corny, but stories like this renew my faith in humanity.
Beautiful! It's nice to think that there are adults raising their children to appreciate and value the "different" others. I hope Benjy is lucky enough to meet such children.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you, Anon. But the skeptic in me wonders whether these same kids would treat a less obviously disabled kid -- and one who is non-athletic -- as such a hero. I'm afraid that a kid who is "different" in more subtle ways, but no less disabled -- and is a talented musician or mathematician or something, or builds the mother of all Lego castles -- would not be so celebrated. But maybe I'm too much a pessimist. Thanks for dropping by!
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