Survival Of The Finest

In nature, different is often desirable, necessary for adaptation and a varied gene pool. In fact, if a population is not diverse enough, the species can perish. As the beings at the top of the food chain, you’d think we’d have that embracing difference thing down pat. Unfortunately, we just don’t seem to remember our animal roots and let a whole lot of other stuff cloud the issue. To be different in humanity is always suspect, potentially dangerous, and even possibly deadly. Oh, we talk a good game--superficially celebrate the unique, give lip service to elevating the unusual--but then we all go shop at the Gap and get Kim Kardashian’s new do. And being really different, like disabled different, is almost certain to yield nothing but misery. Which is why I felt apprehensive when I started working with severely disabled youth. I just knew I would have to protect those kids every moment and maintain constant vigilance to spy cruelty before it could reach them. But I was very pleasantly surprised by the maturity and kindness of the traditional students at our school. Always at the ready to defend (if necessary) and befriend (though challenging) our kids, these students showed a level of compassion we rarely encountered from adults on our field trips. They took good care of us. In Becky Ray McCain’s Nobody Knew What To Do, one boy finds the courage to stand up to the bullies for the sake of another. I know some people like him.

http://www.amazon.com/Nobody-Knew-What-Do-Bullying/dp/0807557110

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