Thursday, April 16, 2015

An Echo in Innocent Souls


I have a meeting today to discuss one of my many hot buttons. The "button" is the way in which many people view those with intellectual/developmental disabilities, and the various slang, attitudes, even gestures and facial expressions used when casually throwing around words like "idiot," "stupid," "dumb," or the forbidden r-word.

It's pervasive and to a large degree, acceptable. I just heard someone say, "The man developed a horrible disease which left him unable to speak, and he was not able to share his brilliant mind with anyone. Nobody could see how wonderful he was."

One does not need to be "brilliant" to be "wonderful." 

Because there are no accidents, one of my favorite daily e-mails today spoke on this issue, 
Piro-o-Murshid Inayat Khan in the daily e-mail called Bowl of Saki:

"The great personalities who have descended on earth from time to time to awaken in man that love, which is his divine inheritance, have always found an echo in innocent souls rather than in great intellects. Man often confuses wisdom with cleverness, but a man can be clever and not wise, and by cleverness a person may strive and strive, and yet not reach God. It is a stream, the stream of love, which leads towards God."

We've worked so hard to bring awareness and equality to the marginalized, the oppressed, the minorities of this country. Let us not forget to include those with intellectual/developmental disabilities in our streams of love.



3 comments:

kario said...

Lola has a quote scrawled on the wall of her bedroom that I love each and every time I see it. "Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish on its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing it is stupid."

Every being is important.
Every being is special.

It is up to us as fellow humans to recognize that everyone has a brilliant light inside of them, and once we do, the world becomes a much better place for us all.

Love.

fullsoulahead.com said...

Love.

Elizabeth said...

I love this. Last week, Oliver and I spoke to a group of very privileged fifth graders in a private school about the disabled and social justice. I was surprised, once again, by how low on the totem pole the intellectually disabled are and how hard the climb to change perceptions. I feel, sometimes, as if I have to drag people along, and it gets very tiring.

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