“It makes me really mad 

when people don’t treat everyone with respect.”

Spencer Manning, 8th grade, advocate, hero, friend

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For the past 8 years, our family has been uber blessed providing after school and summer care to Spencer and Amy.  They have become our Framily. (see post on Friends + Family = Framily)

Fast Forward to 2014.

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We’ve traversed the ups and downs and adventures of life.  Now, Bethany and Spencer both attend middle school together.  One morning, Bethany was eating breakfast before school and Spencer sat down to join her.  They began laughing and talking, not realizing a teacher was observing their camaraderie. Later, this teacher pulled Spencer aside and asked how Spencer knew “that girl” and why he had sat down to talk to her.

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Spencer replied, “Oh Bethany?  She’s like family. She’s one of my best friends. She’s really cool.”

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This teacher was amazed.

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He told Spencer he was going to nominate him for a special recognition award for going above and beyond.

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Now, I also think it’s amazing:

an 8th grade boy who isn’t embarrassed to be outright friends with a girl – much less a girl who has down syndrome?  Kudos to you Spencer and thank you for modeling what NORMAL should look like.  You are the poster guy for inclusion in my eyes and you’ll always have my gratefulness and respect for that.

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But it begs the question:

[Tweet “Inclusion should be #normal. Show #respect. Be #kind. Be a #friend. #inclusion”]

Spencer went home and told his mom how uncomfortable he felt.

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He said, “Mom, people shouldn’t get an award or special recognition for doing something normal.  Everyone should be treating everybody with respect.”

WOW- just WOW!

Here’s the wise words of Spencer- from his heart to yours- 

may his heart change the world…..

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“I think everybody should see people as people first.  I hate how some kids at school ignore other kids with a disability.  Or worse, when they laugh behind their back or make fun of them.  It really makes me mad.

I think the school ought to start off every year, explaining why we should treat everyone with respect.  I think it would help if teachers actually explained disabilities.  Most kids don’t know anything about ADHD, down syndrome, cerbral palsey, tourettes, or any other disability.

I have a kid in my class with Tourettes syndrome.  I didn’t understand him at first but I went home and looked Tourettes up on the computer.  Now I understand why he has outbursts and tics- he can’t help it.   I have another kid in my class that is in a wheel chair and involuntarily moans once in a while.  Kids laugh but I wish they would try to understand what its like being in a wheel chair with muscle and neurological problems. Understanding everyone’s challenges is the key to becoming their friend.

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[Tweet “Understanding everyone’s #challenges is the first step to becoming friends. #inclusion”]

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It makes me really sad when I see kids with learning disabilities all sitting together at the same table- we should all be sitting together.  It makes me mad when they have to go down to a different hallway to learn apart from everyone else. It seems that even though they’re integrated, they’re still isolated and misunderstood. There’s got to be a better way!  I don’t understand why we can’t all learn to eat, play and learn together.

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I’m going to high school next year and I hope Bethany continues to do o.k. at the Middle School.  She’s made a lot of friends but I wish I could still be there to stand up for her if she needs me.”

 Surprising Treasure:  Overcoming Love, courage to defend the weak, compassion to reach out to the “least of these”, strength to go against the flow and do what’s right.

Psalm 10:14 – The helpless put their trust in you.