The following blog was written in 1993 by my new and good friend, Nina Patry. Nina hails from Rutland Vermont. Her claim to fame is that she is a certified Paradox Process instructor. We met last year while I was getting called up on a Lorie Ladd live event and not able to get my equipment to work to connect. Nina was cheering me on and we ended up chatting on FB and pretty soon we both realized we had connections to special needs individuals. Me, as a parent, and she as a sister and aunt. We’ve been friends ever since, in fact, to learn more about Nina, listen to the podcast I did with her. (link) During a recent conversation, we were discussing some of our experiences of the extraordinary abilities of our loved ones with special needs to be far more energetically tuned in than most ever imagine and what a gift, it was to have these “seers” in our lives. Then she read me the following bit of prose she’d written, which I immediately knew I had to share. I left the language as written. While harsh to read, it speaks somewhat to a bit of evolution of consciousness, that must continue in an accelerated manner related to all things we now define as “special needs”. Thanks, Nina for this precise and moving piece.
I went to Church this morning. First time in a long time. In Charlottesville, Virginia, where a large portion of our family has gathered for Thanksgiving. And I found myself particularly thankful for the special people in my life.
I sat in the front row, surrounded by my brother and my nieces – all “special needs” people. Christopher with Down Syndrome, thirty-two years young; Maggie and Emma are developmentally delayed, with no more specific label attached. Maggie and Emma are identical twins, eight and a half years young.
Retarded. Developmentally delayed. Rather judgmental terms—or at least markings at the low end along a linear evaluation of human beings. I prefer the Rudolf Steiner/Camp Hill movement view. That perspective places these people, at least on the spiritual plane, as beings more closely aligned with the unseen spiritual aspects of reality. They are seen as souls who have difficulty adapting to, accepting, relating to the advanced state of materialism much of our world reflects these days.
It is said in Camp Hill literature I have read, that these souls incarnate, but cannot enter fully into the mindsets, perceptions, and values currently dominant in “modern” or “postmodern” culture. Instead, these folk arrive, one foot in and one foot out. Here, but not here in the same way the rest of us are. And in that difference, their presence is a strong conduit, one which the spiritual plane needs to help bring our world back into balance.
These folk live their lives in many senses free of the pressures, drives, greed, and fears that many of us “normals” experience. They exist on more basic levels. And freedom from the materialist drives seems to leave them more time and energy for the truly important aspects of life. The unseen. Love joy emotions happiness. Freer to be themselves—they don’t understand so well our “civilized” codes—the dress code, the wariness and distance with “strangers” codes, codes on the “proper” ways to be in various situations.
I personally love to witness the ways in which this freedom reveals itself. Both Chris and the twins are more overtly, actively friendly to strangers than many other people I know. Saying hello, smiling, sometimes staring (definitely considered rude by some), but it is clearly an observation and awareness of others that many of us believe need to be kept secret for some reason.
My brother loves to attend performances of many kinds, especially musical performances. He will encourage the performers from the audience. Give them the thumbs-up sign or a wave. He is often the first on his feet to give a standing ovation and likes to go up to the stage and shake hands with the performers. (If any opportunity presents itself for him to get his hands on a microphone, so much the better!)
And last night, too, when Mom, Dad, Chris, and I arrived at the airport, Maggie and Emma’s greeting was contagious. Flapping, smiling, almost flying around the airport in their unconfined excitement over our arrival. For these and so many other reasons, I am eternally giving thanks for my specials.