FW: Thanksgiving Treat: A New Poem by ny Seitz!

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Subject: Thanksgiving Treat: A New Poem by ny Seitz!

Date: Sat, 26 Nov 2005 03:38:40 +0000

Val -

Nicki says that as long as you let people know that the poem is from her

magazine (TAP www.theautismperspective.org) you may share it, if you like, with

your email list.

ny

One Day, Mother Nature Tossed A Very Different Kind Of Pebble Into The Pool Of

Humanity

By ny Seitz

We are all stones in the riverbed over which the stream of Life flows. Each of

us was shaped by Her hand and tossed into the stream. For thousands of years

Mother Nature has been watching Her children grow and care for ourselves and

each other. Usually She watches us and She smiles.

We each land in this life, I believe, to discover ourselves and to see parts of

ourselves reflected in others. We do not always like what we see but we

generally recognize the things we see as reflections of aspects of ourselves. We

cling to each other when we like what we see and group and regroup in new ways

to support of ourselves and each other as a species.

We are like pebbles in a rock garden forming the mosaic of life on Earth. Some

of us are smooth and round, others jagged. It is our diversity that makes human

life rich and ever more interesting.

One day, however, Mother Nature tossed a very different kind of pebble into the

pool of humanity. It landed with all the usual ripples, surprising and

delighting the parents. This pebble did seem a little brighter than many others,

it was a little rougher than the others and it was somehow much deeper too. This

pebble really warmed the hearts of all those who held it.

The ripples spread ever outward from where it landed, this new addition to

humanity. It affirmed all of the values of deep love, honest work, and the

continuation of our species on this Earth that marriage and community bring. And

as always happens, the ripples from this pebble continued to spread outward from

where it landed and they touched all of the members of the family and then all

of the friends of the family and soon the whole rest of the community where it

had landed.

This pebble, however, was to be profoundly different than all the other pebbles

that had previously landed. At first it had seemed no different. For over a

year, it seemed just perfect. Ripples of hopes and dreams and plans and schemes

spread outward towards the future. Little was sure to be the president one

day and to stand as testament to his parents love for each other.

But, after a while, this pebble seemed to somehow close in upon itself and to

become louder in it’s silence, and more intense in it’s concentration upon

every little thing that it observed. Then this pebble began to scare it’s

parents and they tried to hide it from the others lest the others saw the

different ness. And they waited for it to become normal.

Were they afraid that others might not see reflections of themselves in ?

Or were they afraid that the others might see some things about themselves that

were perhaps better left unnoticed? Having a father’s eyes or a mother’s

nose was somehow not the same as having too intense of a stare, one that

wasn’t focused on people or things that others could see.

did not become normal again. The differences only began to grow. And the

ripples of it began to spread outward. The first ones hit the parents. Not my

child they cried. But little was so cute and so determined and so focused.

The father wondered, Is this my child? Is this just a passing phase? Might there

be something wrong with ! Was it his fault? Was he a good father?

The sisters and brothers felt slighted, left out, unnoticed and fought back the

anger that little got so much more attention.

The mother wondered was it all her fault? Had she been too hovering or too

inattentive? Was she just not a good mother? She was constantly reading tiny

signs of interest and involvement in the world that the others missed and the

child became her obsession. As his eyes slid past her face, they didn’t

actually linger a little? Others begin to see her as unrealistic and seeing

things that aren’t there.

Later on the father left the wife who wouldn’t give up hope of changing.

The friends of the family were next.

Thank God he’s not our child! They said. He is seriously weird, interesting,

but seriously weird. Maybe it’s better that we never see them these days. And

they began to make sure that they didn’t.

Then the ripples hit the community.

What was wrong with that couple and that child of theirs? Do you think are we in

any danger? Perhaps we should see that the school puts him into a separate

class.

Then the society in general. Humanity is always very wary of things it does not

understand, cannot identify with or fix. Especially, it seemed, the medical

community.

Autism is a disease apparently without a cure. It would be better all around if

you did not hope too much and later, when he reaches puberty, perhaps you had

better think about institutionalization.

One community, however, did something different. They embraced this pebble and

all of his differences. They looked deep into themselves and were not afraid to

recognize the little similarities between themselves and this child, even the

uncomfortable ones. They embraced the parents and their struggle to love each

and themselves. They did not feel threatened by the parents’ struggles and

doubt but saw their own therein and in supporting these parents; they supported

their own marriages.

This community formed a new mosaic around the different ness of and around

each other not despite the differences but because of the differences that they

began to see as new reflections of human nature. They sought to embrace the fine

and wonderful differences that make us fine and wonderful.

Each and every pebble that lands here, they felt, possesses one hundreds percent

of humanness within itself and if they failed to see themselves inside the least

of their neighbors, then what were they and who were they to await love to be

showered upon them?

I pray that this is only the first of many such communities who will recognize

the intense silent face of Mother Nature writ large upon the children who are

coming now in droves.

And I heard one father say, “I would not change and make him normal if I

could. is the child that he is and he is the son that I love.â€

Today, great handfuls of these special pebbles are landing in the pool of

humanity. One out of every 166 children born today is born autistic.

And Mother Nature is expecting us to embrace them and in so doing, to embrace

Her light within them. Will we live up to Her expectations? Or will we turn away

from these children their parents and eventually, from each other?

God gives in equal measure to each and every one of His children, you must

remember this. And even if all the doors and all the windows remain forever

locked, this house was never empty. God Does Not Make Garbage!