Through The Eyes Of A Child

Tweet

When I was around five years old, I embarassed the living crap out of my mother, infront of a whole church full of people. From the time I was about 18 months old, I was speaking in full sentences, and by the time I was two, I could say Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious. When I turned 3, I sat down at our piano, and started playing melodies I'd heard, and even added simple harmonies, and a few chords. When a rather arrogant owner of a music store said children couldn't touch the grand piano, I touched it anyway. I walked up to it, and started playing The Blue Danube! It also shouldn't come as a surprise that at an early age, i had a pretty good grasp on grammer rules, and proper pronounciation. I knew that slang existed, but was always told it was "improper." Around the same tine Mom started teaching me about God, and taking me to Church. I was told by the grownups that I was "GIFTED," but also that GOD was this great big spirit in the sky that made ALL OF US, and was greater than ALL OF US, and that somehow the man in the pulpet spoke to us on "His" Behalf. Even then I wondered why God was a "He," if "He" created gender, but I digress. On this particular day, the children were called to the front for the Children's Story, like any other week. Reverand JP (last name withheld) told us a story. In the middle of the story he mentioned how Jesus was "goin'" somewhere, dropping the G in his pronounciation. This is where my gifted little child-brain, not yet taught any kind of restraint, engaged, and put my not-so-little MOUTH in gear. I jumped up. "James Peter! Jesus wasn't goin, he was GOING!" I got a huge round of laughter, the darling Minister took it like a pro, and my mother longed for a trap door to open under her feet and swallow her up. *I should mention that JP was a born Canadian, and that English was his first language. My mother immigrated from Denmark, so even then I knew that some people weren't fluent in English, because they didn't have it from birth as I did, but they were fluent in another language I didn't yet know.* Later when she asked me what I was thinking, I remember exactly what I told her. "Mom. You said James Peter is God's representative on Earth, right?" (yes) "And you said that he'll tell us all we need to know about God, and Jesus, and the big stuff, right? (yes) "And God created everything, right?" (yes) "So, if JP is so important, why would he make a simple little mistake like that? You always tell me to do my BEST, and that's exactly what I did!" (well, nobody is perfect except for God. Sometimes people make mistakes.) "Why didn't you tell me that yesterday?" (AARRGGHH!!!!!!!!!) Me, 30 years later. I'm still "gifted," but I'm also IMPERFECT like everyone else on this planet, whether my reader believes God made it, or we got here some other way. If I were typing this on my iPhone, Autocorrect would make me look like an absolute ignoramous, I'm sure. Maybe a 5 year old with a computer would be correcting my English, and why shouldn't they? Obviously adults know it's impolite to correct the minister's English, and even more so to do it infront of 900 people, but a small child just learning about the BIG things in life may not necessarily know that, especially one who's "getting answers" faster than most children that age, but whom the adults still expect to act like a typical kid. Being a gifted child can be confusing sometimes. Over the last 30 years, I've learned something else. Where we are strong in some areas, we're lacking, or totally lacking in others. Physically and visually, I suck! Couldn't keep up with the rest of the world if someone pointed a gun at me and demanded I run. That doesn't stop me, though. I grab my white support cane, and go where I want. Unfortunately a lot of people see me slowing walking (waddling? Wobbling?) carefully along, and will often grab me, and try to inflict help on me for which I did not ask. I may LOOK like I can't stay on my feet, but in 35 years I've never broken a bone. Also, if appearances told the whole story, my visual challenge would render me utterly ignorant. Lately, I've been thinking. We ALL mean well, and the things we think we do to be courtious to others, we do through our own understanding and experience. Why is it valiant for someone to "help" me, when in fact, they may actually throw me off balance and cause me to stumble, yet it's EMBARASSING and rude for me to correct the minister's grammar? The minister did not ask for my help, nor did I ask for the help of the stranger who laid his hands on me this morning. If it's inappropriate for me to speak up like that (and it is!), then why is it appropriate for a stranger to reach out and GRAB MY BODY? Obviously I no longer go around correcting people's grammaer...no matter how tempting it is. Everytime I see someone write " gunna c u B4 2morrow gurl" etc. I just want to scream! God knows sometimes I do. It's not like they can hear me. haha I scream, mutter something under my breath, and then move as quickly away from that line as I can, in order to resist the temptation to releast my inner five year old on the writer. Maybe that's where Autocorrect comes in, so that I can also look like a fool in print without making that my intention. When you stop and think about it, autocorrect AKA autocorrupt makes us all look like equals. While it may be inappropriate for the child to correct the grownup, when it does happen, after gently correcting the child, we ought to be thankful for her intellegence at that age. Before we reach out and touch a stranger who may be wobbling down the street, we ought to ask their permission to help them. If they say NO, or simply ignore us (I wear headphones, as do a lot of people) we need to back off, and get on with our lives. I was recently told I shouldn't ahve to ask for help. Excuse me? Of course I should! In ASKING for my own help when I need it, and not being afraid to do so, I'm still in control of my own destiny. Finally, I just told y'all about the time I corrected the minister infront of the whole church, a story which my mother loves to use to try and embarass me. It didn't embarass me then, and I'm telling it to more than 900 people, so it sure as heck doesn't embarass me now. if adults saw the world through children's eyes as Jesus taught, their criticisms would be gentler, and their embarassment would be less.