Previous Challenge Entry (Level 1 – Beginner)
Topic: Teacher (10/26/06)
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TITLE: Unlikely Teacher | Previous Challenge Entry
By Mark Morrell
10/30/06 -
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“Are you listening?” I asked my brother, grabbing the bottom of his jaw to look directly into his unfocused eyes.
“Uh, yeah bro,” he said. His voice, while indistinct to some, always sounded clear enough to me. He gave me his goofy smile.
“Sit like this,” I said, pushing him gently back down. I squatted with him and rested the bottom of his grimy Nike on my knee. We sat on the carpeted floor of my apartment living room.
“If you want me to take you to the zoo, then you need to keep your shoes tied, Kenny,” I said.
“Ok.”
He crouched on the floor and pulled the dangling laces with his awkward hands. I squared the bottom of his shoe on my knee and helped him grasp the laces, one in each hand. His hunched, rounded shoulders moved awkwardly under his orange “Special Olympics” T-shirt as he fiddled with his laces in yet another attempt to tie his shoes.
“I can’t,” he said.
“Look, you are too old to be asking for help with this. By now, you should be tying your own shoes.”
My ten-year old brother’s appearance always drew attention in public. He dressed in baggy, untucked shirts and wore pants that hung below his substantial belly. His face showed the familiar sign of a boy with Downs Syndrome. And his shoes were always untied.
For over two years, my family had worked along with Kenny’s schoolteachers to teach Kenny to dress himself and tie his shoes. He lived with my parents and attended a special school during the week. Last night my parents had dropped him off at my college apartment so we could spend the weekend together. But first Kenny needed to be dressed with his shoes tied.
After I left for college last year, Kenny had learned to dress himself, but he was stubborn in learning how to tie his own shoes, preferring instead to ask someone else to do it for him. He was able to tie a nice bow on the laces of a shoe that he was not wearing. But he failed to tie his own. We knew he could do it, but he just refused.
He fidgeted and pulled at his laces again, this time just tugging at them without making an attempt to tie them.
“Don’t act like such a Downy,” I said. It was cruel, and I could tell that I had hurt his feelings.
I remained silent as I grabbed the laces from his hands and tied his shoe for him. My heart raced and I felt disgust at the way I had just spoken to my brother. But he was so stubborn about these shoes!
”Give me the other one,” I said.
“Kenny,” I said. He ignored me.
“Kenny, look at me.”
My brother looked at me directly. His narrow eyes squinted with concentration and disappointment.
“I am very sorry for saying that. It was mean. Will you please forgive me?”
Kenny sat up on his knees, one shoe tied and the other dangling. He hugged me.
“Of course I forgive you, bro.” His smile returned to his face and he sat back on his bottom, tugging again at the laces of his untied shoe.
“I am very proud of you, Kenny. You have learned so much over the past year, and I know you will be able to tie your shoes soon. Thank you for teaching me a lesson more important than shoes.”
He had no idea what I was talking about. For him, it was that simple. I was very cruel. I was embarrassed about it and had asked his forgiveness. He had forgiven me, and it was over. Immediately.
“You know what, Kenny?”
“What?”
“You just taught me something that will probably take me years to learn, and I doubt I will ever get it right.”
I grabbed his leg, pulled it to me, and tied his final shoe. I ruffled his hair and smiled down at him. I pulled him up with me and we stood there, wrapping our arms around each other’s shoulders.
”Ready to go to the zoo?” I asked.
“Yeah!” He smiled at me, pulled at his shirt, and walked to the door, ready for a day with his brother.
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I also especially enjoyed it because I have a good friend with Down syndrome who also has a very loving and forgiving nature. He'll laugh and say "That's okay" when I accidentally ram him into things. (He's in a wheelchair and I'm pretty clumsy!)