DelBloggolo: GOD’S LIGHT

Sunday, October 26, 2014

GOD’S LIGHT

My mentor, my daughter

You don’t have to go to church to know that there is a God: and no church or temple will bring you closer than the structure you call your soul. You can look in the bricks and mortar but he is not there, only the believer’s that go there to gather in his name. You can practice your faith as you see fit, and feel you are close to Him.

I don’t look to bring any gospel to anyone, me, I am too busy learning from some great teachers, people who have a mission in life to make others heal, to make others feel equal and part of their society, allowing the full participation of everyone, the healthy and the weak, the strong and the disabled, everyone. They are the children of God, and the true teachers: true believers.

I spent a weekend up in Albany at the NYSARC convention for people who have developmental disabilities and saw first hand how this works, how people, many of them old and disabled themselves, people who rode around in carts or stood shakily on canes, hobble and limp to a microphone to ask a question or make a statement. When they spoke I looked into their eyes and saw a lifetime of pain, of deep fear and constant worry, what would happen to their child when they are gone? I saw tears and I saw anger, I saw questioning and I saw the deep far away look of what they fear.

To clearly see a person with Developmental Disabilities you need to be able to read the eyes of the parents and siblings, hear the tone of their voices and then you feel the pain in their hearts.

Then and only then do you see that life expands and contracts according to our courage. We can be observers of the world as it turns, frequently upside down and never raise a finger or a voice, and wait for someone else to come along and right the wrongs and ills of life, wonder when he or she will arrive, and at the end of the day, wonder why no one ever showed up. We could wail and raise our fists in anger and protest and curse those who could make it better, as when we slam the door shut at the end of the day, look carefully around you, because he/she is standing in your shoes!

How do I know this, my daughter told me so! She doesn’t speak, can’t make any real discernable sounds but the laughter and love in her heart. She sees and loves and makes my day fulfilled with the greediness I have for her approval, the unspoken love that shines through her eyes and heart, when she sees me for the first time and runs into my arms and hugs me until I my back hurts from the sheer enjoyment of her happiness.

I hear it in others too, the pride of someone who has a brother or child who can speak or walk while being challenged, but faces the challenge: none-the-less.

Sometimes when I get together with fellow board members, we will commiserate about those we are working for, and how wonderfully their child or sibling is doing, taking ordinary tasks we take for granted with pride, these children or siblings carry with them in their very being. THEY seem to teach us that life is more than an electronic gadget or a cruise or a great meal, it is about taking pride in everything we do with passion and love, and doing it to better themselves. When I hear these stories, it is like a tonic, a cure to my own life knowing the time I spend working for them is indeed healing my heart too!

To be in God’s company means to follow the tears, follow those who need rather than those who have. We don’t need to throw away any happiness, money or time of our own: we just need to expand our love and courage to others who are in need. I don’t mean people with disabilities only, but all of our brothers and sisters, then all of us will share equally here on Earth and maybe some day, if there is: in heaven.