Ignorance is a Miss to Bliss
: My mother is going in for surgery tomorrow and will not come out till Saturday :
I forgot what it's for, doesnt really matter to me though, any surgery is risky. Her operation isn't just one, but two, surgery procedures. It's been a while since I've had the urge to pray, that fate be kind for once.
Its my duty to watch Steven, my 17 years old brother; he's sensitive and all the time unresponding to the environment around him. I'm to make sure he goes to the restroom... that he eats breakfast...that he's entertained with tv or movies, and that he doesnt get hurt somehow... and then the process will happen again. Morning, day, evening, and hopefully he'll be tired and go to bed at night. But as reality goes, my brother's mind is a complicated thing and can't be diagnosed and solved with a simple little pill. He'll stay up and just sit there in the dark...rocking away....rocking away...
My brother's life is more complicated than mine. Than yours, than anyone's will ever be.
Seriously I could write a book about it. I never talk about my brother. I never talk about myself. It's a sensitive subject and people can't understand. It's hard enough for family members to understand. But it should be spoken of. Its the only way the world can accept it. It's perhaps about time I take responsibility to educate others. Because it hurts everytime I think about it, NOBODY can be there for him, I'm the closest person in all of this world to him. We carry the same blood, similar DNA... the only main difference is that he carries an extra hormone. If he were "normal" (god only knows what the hell normal is...), I think he would be kind of like me. So I imagine myself as him. And then the tears flow...
In his eyes: It's a beautiful world, disneyesque, it's like drifting in a day dream never to wake up, never to see reality. But you're still there, living within the dangers of the world. Breathing. You still need all the basic human essentials as anyone: food...oxygen.. shelter...and most importantly love. But you're a victim to society. Uncapable of defending yourself. Uncapable of feeding yourself. You're not a vegetable, you're a baby in mentality. Physically healthy and in good shape. Just defenseless. Not because you're can't hurt someone. You can do that without warning. But because you have no fears... and with no fears you have no urge to react to danger.
"Retarded" isnt a word in my vocabulary. In common language it's an insult. It's a failure of communication. Its ignorance and a showcase to stupidity. It's an accident and the result of an innocent mind conforming itself to the corruptions of society. The corruptions of society in this case would be the perspective of thought.
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Here's a real life example to this conformity of thought.
In the U.S. we are patriots, we are people of the country, and terrorists seek to destroy our way of life. Whoever does not follow the government in turn is considered Anti-American because he's being unpatriotic. We are taught to not even think twice about things like this.
In the Middle East there's a hatred to the U.S. because we've invaded their lands, their friends and family have been killed by our military's accidents, results of war, inevitabilities. There the reason is particular and true why it's just to attack the United States of America, revenge. It's a major principle in Arab culture. Because they believe in Fairness. They train their mind with morality.
In the U.S., open-minded thinking is neglected, and people are conformed to an easy go, American Dream, train of thought. We wouldnt consider what the Arabs are thinking because our environment is very pampered. Our friends and family dont die because the Arabs chose to be invaded. Its all in the way things are perceived and how they are presented to us. Which makes media a very dangerous tool.
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When it comes to my brother. It's all about that "being in the other person's shoes" mind of thought that people dont even consider. So with that, even though I'd feel like beating the living $#!7 if someone disrespected "retarted" (mentally challenged) people in front of me, that would be ignorant of myself because, first its just acting on impulse, and secondly because I didnt consider that the other person just doesnt understand. I could call them stupid but that's mean. Stupid is only a lack of knowledge. And knowledge is something my brother can't even learn. So mentally challenged people arent stupid either. They're special.
Steven has a dual symptom case of mental disability. [Down Syndrome and Autistic Spectrum Disorder]. He isnt like the other kids... some of them are actually able to make lives for themselves...to get jobs... and live happily ever after. No my brother's happily ever-after is different. And right now it comes from all the love of my family, of friends, the teachers, researchers, and doctors.
I'm going to take care of an innocent mind. A child at heart forever.
So I seem a bit harsh on society and the way things are, I in turn blame them for the way my brother is, and I also thank society, for my brother will forever remain in peace with the universe and he will live heaven on earth.
For I hope to be a best brother, an angel to him, protecting him against the evils of the world and sheltering him with love and support. I have to be more humane than anyone I know could be. And the only thing that makes me cry is the people who don't understand. The people without a heart. There is nothing more difficult or requiring of my strength than my blessings to Steven.
It's hard, and people don't know, we just live happily ever after in our peace.