Question: Please describe something that changed your life, in a good or bad way  

Posted by: Cameon

Every now and then, we have the chance to meet someone that truly changes our lives. They can change our lives in a small way, a huge way, or maybe even change it without even knowing it. I met five people like this, and I will never forget the lessons that they taught me at my middle school almost five years ago.

Gym class was not my favorite class. Dodge-ball just didn’t provide the entertainment for me that it did for the other kids so I tended to stand over to the side, which is when I noticed some other kids doing the same thing. It wasn’t until later that I realized they were actually the Special Education class that had been in my PE class the whole year without me noticing. Suddenly, after an hour spent with them, these were the kids I wanted to spend time with and help learn. Since we had an opportunity to choose what we wanted to do during our “recreation” period this year it was the perfect opportunity for me to ask my principal if I could volunteer to work in their class, and I did.

J.J., C.J., Jeffrey, Michael, and Nathan are five kids that changed how I looked at life. They helped me to realize that using the word “retarded” like so many people do was wrong and offensive to them, so it became a pet peeve of mine when my friends did it. They helped me to realize how to love people, and give everyone a chance. I learned new ways to help kids with any disability learn and get the concept of new things from addition and subtraction to table manners.

Most importantly, these kids helped me to become the way I am in that they were passionate about everything. Emotion was raw in just everything they did, and I fell in love with that. A hug that could take your breath away from J.J. was unlike any other. Michael talking to you about basketball was the best thing, because he loved it so much. Jeffrey fell in love with a song that we sang at lunch to help him to remember to stay seated when he was supposed to and would sing it all the time. Nathan had a passion for learning whatever he could and C.J. had a passion for cars and history. They were all passionate kids that taught me to be the same about everything I get involved in.

They are the reason I chose Special Education as a career. They are the reason I am so passionate about life. I had inspiration. These five kids, without even knowing it, helped me to realize that I could also make a difference. Later that year, two more kids volunteered to work with these kids, and the next year a few more volunteered. They just wanted to be around normal people, but normal kids had never tried. They taught me that one person can make a difference. I’ll never forget the times I was able to share with these kids, and how they influenced my life. 

This entry was posted on Thursday, December 10, 2009 . You can leave a response and follow any responses to this entry through the Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom) .

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