The other day while Anthony I & were in Costco we were not so lucky to met a very mean man. A man that must be very angry about life, is lonely or was hurting. Who knows what was up with him, but none the less he was mean!
Anthony was holding the cart with one hand while he walked very proudly next to the cart. Anthony was taking in all the sights and chatting away with me and I was taking it all in as I know how hard he has to work to talk. As most of you know Costco can be harry around the sample stands, many people gather and hold family reunions at these stands. We came upon such a group so I moved the cart around the group when all of a sudden a man came from one of the side aisles and almost hit Anthony with his cart. The only way out this mess was for me to keep moving to get out of his way, but he kept trying to push his cart into Anthony. I got between his cart and Anthony, looked at the man and said "Excuse us" as I smiled at him and I proceeded to move Anthony, but this man kept going while glaring at me! So I pushed his cart back to get it off of us, looked at him, not smiling and firmly said "I'm trying to move" This man says back to me "You should move that!" as he gave Anthony the worse look. I was so mad and shocked my initial reaction was to hit him with my balled up fist! I didn't for good reasons, but I wanted to. As I got us away from him I was so angry I needed to get us out of there. I got to my car buckled Anthony sat in my seat and cried! This man was so hateful and I know that many in our world are just mean hateful people, but why is Down syndrome a target? Is it because people are fearful of their own disabilities (we all have some)? Are people just so mean that they see people with disabilities an easy target? Is it out of fear of the unknown? Is there so much pressure from society for perfection that the value of all human life is down the drain? Whatever it is, it's all beyond me. What I do know is that my work has only begun and my family agrees that we have lots of work ahead of us. Work we are committed to and work we are doing and will keep doing.
The link below is to a song that was written by a man whose daughter has Down syndrome. A beautiful song that I sob to as the words are very much what I & my family believe. God never makes mistakes and it's a message that many in this world have forgotten.
Enjoy and please share with all you know.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NfuaNhXI1Ao
Blessings,
Helen
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I'm so sorry that you suffered that mean mans' anger and hostility. He will never know the joy of unconditional love. Kisses from Auntie Karen
ReplyDeleteWow, I would want to cry too. He obviously has a low self esteem to think that it's ok to pick on a sweet boy like Anthony. You should be able to go to Costco without having to deal with that.
ReplyDeleteWe had a great time at the play date today!
I don't get it either. Sorry you had to experience that - or maybe not. Maybe it's a good reality check. I don't know about you, but I generally surround myself with supportive people - and it's easy to forget that a-holes like that are out there and that my son is going to be meeting them when he's an adult. It kind of makes you understand the overprotective mothers ... :-) Hang in!
ReplyDeleteI found your blog again. This post just breaks my heart! There's always a rotten egg in the crowd. I find that a lot of seniors stare at my girls, and it's not friendly. I know they were raised in that institutional era, but it's a new day. I read on a down syn post a few years ago that this women says, "when God looks down at my child He smiles, when He looks down at you He is angry" or something to that. Hugs, carolee And good luck on your triathalon, wow. Your really brave.
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