It has been some time, but they've come close to me once again.
The last time was two years ago when I put some serious contemplation about them. Yet closer to me they are this time. No longer are they at a distance on the television screen. No more in the distance of memory are they.
But one afternoon they were right next to me.. a class in their neat school uniforms walking on the narrow pedestrian path to the bus stop, and two children at McDonalds.
And instead of wondering openly about their behaviors as most of us naturally do, this time I caught myself wondering about their dreams.
Here this child was, with his pack of fries, dipping one into ketchup, then kicking off his shoes and climbing into a crouch position on the chair, laughing all the time. Here this child was rocking his body to and fro, and there the other child calling out and making sounds as he looked out of the glass that separated him from the world outside.
It takes special attention to understand their sounds and their behaviors, and sometimes tiring it can be to repeat over and over and over again the necessary guidelines for behaving in society, yet I found myself wondering what this boy with the Minions backpack liked. What did he enjoy doing, this boy with his shoes lying haphazardly on the ground? And the boy with his bus pass on a lanyard over his neck, did he have any role models and who were they? And did each of them have a favorite superhero?
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| symmetry in self |
Because is it not possible that the boy with the unintelligible sounds coming out from his throat actually dreamed of becoming a lawyer or a doctor like his much elder cousin was studying to be? And is it not possible too that the other boy wanted to become a singer or a dancer and dreamt of belting out his hits at a concert venue filled with fans like Justin Bieber or Andy Lau? Or that he dreamed of being a well muscled fireman saving people from fires because he really, really liked their uniforms? Or even, to be able to go to school like everyone else, graduate with certificates and earn diplomas and degrees and experience campus life like he'd seen so many others do?
I have to say, though, that these wonderings are relatively new to me.
Because not too long ago I watched this K-drama.
And in this drama, I realized that whilst for most of us it is expected that we live our lives the way society expects us to, the very same expectations (that we sometimes loathe) for them might be a yearning. To achieve something in life, to have a job, to have a home, to have friends, to date a 'normal' girl and to be able to fall in love with her, to be able to protect the girl that he has fallen in love with, to play basketball together and share an ice cream cone together, to hold hands and chat and impress her with his looks and manliness, to be on the same competitive playing field as any other man for her heart...
That's all he wishes to be.
And now, seeing the young children- they who are the future- I have to ask... is it really impossible? Can we reach to a stage where their pronounced handicap becomes a strength? Can we make that pronounced handicap less pronounced to the rest of us? Can we redefine the rules that govern society and transform the differences into normalcy?
Like... what if all of us talked to each other with expressive looks on our faces? We have invented a whole new language altogether with the introduction of emojis- would we go a step further with the use of technology? Is it possible for us to communicate to them in the language that they understand, instead of making them communicate to us in the language that we understand?
It is a great beginning to understand them and speak to them. It is a wonderful start to let them have a place on a stage and do what they are instructed to do and then have everyone join in even, but what happens beyond that? Where do they go? What do they do? How do they live? Through what will they discover their purpose and meaning for their living? And how will they contribute to the very society that they themselves live in?
It is no handicap to dream.
It is no handicap to work hard at something and push boundaries.
A better world it becomes when they celebrate their victory as a result from their own skillsets forged by their own personal strengths,
And an inclusive world it becomes that when they speak- through whatever language it is that they communicate- that we listen, we understand, and we connect.