This weekend we had friends come visit us from Harrisburg!!! I decided that I finally wanted to go shopping for some clothing that had our local football teams name on it. They decided to get it for me for my graduation. We decided to go shopping which was great, but we were also people acting our normal way in public.
We were in the middle of a bookstore downtown walking around. There was a young man with down syndrome that came walking by. My dear friend decided to walk in the same direction as the young man, but they ended up bumping into each other despite the fact that he said excuse me. My friend got very startled which sent us into laughter.
Laughing may be okay in some situations, but I laughed right after my friend accidentally ran into this young man. I thought about it after the fact that laughter is only for sometimes ever if you are acting like your normal self. I was laughing at my friend for being startled because it was funny, but the boy walked away right away. I can't imagine how he felt. For all I know, he thought I was laughing at him. This young man is going to go about his day thinking that people don't understand and that people just tease and bully. I want to change that and I want to start making a difference. When i go out in public I need to monitor my behavior and all of us do.
I have been teased, bullied, talked about and laughed at too many times. People with down syndrome may be mentally retarted, but they are not stupid. They know when they are being picked on just like the rest of us. I make a laughter fit in the middle of the store and since these people were not part of the group, they had no idea what we were laughing at.
I want to change. Just think about it!!!
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