We say it's sad,

the way they think

and act

and live

 

but it's the other way around.

 

We see them as simple,

as  incapable

worthless

unable

wastes of space.

 

It's too bad that we don’t realize.

 

We are the simple ones,

always on the hunt for 

more

and bigger

and better

and best.

 

While the ones with incapabilities

and disabilities

and disorders

have the right ideas.

 

we fail to realize that 

they are actually

wide open

unconditionally loving

human beings

who see the world as 

an opportunity 

a playground

an empty canvas that needs color

 

and while they paint that canvas

with love

and affection

and simplicity

we go behind them

with the eraser

of cruelty

and judgment

and desire for our 

skewed vision of "perfection"

 

We look for something to 

make the world a better place.

 

I have found that "thing". 

 

It's in the bear hugs 

from a child born with

Downs' Syndrome

who has never met you

but wants to be your best friend.

 

It's in the smile on the face 

of a student who lives with 

Cerebral Palsy

who is receiving his

high school diploma.

 

It's in the fist pump of an adult who has gone

his whole life with

Autism

but now has just gone 

the whole distance

to complete his first 5K.

 

The key to a better world is in 

simplicity

faith

joy

and

pure love

that the 

special people

in our world 

are so quick to show. 

 

If we could be more like them

instead of us wanting them

to be more like us

we would change the way we 

think

and act

and live 

and become the people that

we have always wanted to be.