On learning disabilities

Last night I was watching one of my favorite movies on Disney Channel, Tru Confessions. A few years back, when I first watched it, I cried. A few nights ago when I was able to watch again for so long, I cried. Just last night when I watched it again, I cried still. (I am such a crybaby. I know.)

The story was about a girl in her teens who has a twin brother who has a learning disability. He was retarded, to put it bluntly. So anyway, despite the learning disability of her brother, the girl still loved him so much that she normally takes him out to play with him or something. The girl also has dreams of becoming a filmmaker of some sort. So when an opportunity to create her own show came up, she jumped on it. At first she had difficulties regarding the type of show she wanted to present. She wanted to show something related to her brother's learning disability. But then she did not know how to approach it. Initially she made a medical explanation regarding the disability. However, her friends and family commented that not a lot of people would want to watch it. In the end, she made a film that was closer to her heart, as per advised by her mother and her online friend Deedee (who happens to be her mother all along). Her film showed how her brother is to her, how her brother can be sometimes unbearable but most of the time. just plain adorable. The film she made wanted people to know that people with learning disabilities are not supposed to be discriminated against. It is such a struggle for them trying to fit in our "normal" world. And they are trying to (the guy in the movie said, "I don't want to be different anymore...I want to be normal like everyone else.") But then the "normal" world we are living in is not forgiving of them.

It's sad that people are not supportive and understanding of people with learning disability. Oftentimes, they are discriminated against. When they throw tantrums in a public place, they are asked to leave. Even when they are not doing anything, people stare at them as though waiting for them to make a mistake or something.

As I watched the movie, I realized how we all have our certain disabilities. We all have our quirks. We are all imperfect. We make mistakes every now and then. We do not know everything. We cannot do everything. The only reason people with learning disabilities are treated differently is because their disability is more prominent. But then, we share something similar with them. We are imperfect. And we live in an imperfect world.

As I watched the movie, I realized how sometimes it is better to be attuned with our certain "disabilities" because then we are limitless. Then we are not afraid to know. We are not afraid to discover. The fear of rejection from the people around us, the fear of mockery is overcome by our desire to see and to know. Our world becomes so big that we want to explore as much as we could. Things seems newer that we want to know them even more. The world seems to brighter that we would want to embrace it. We find ourselves as small people running around this big world. We find ourselves in need of other people because it is through them that we learn and see things which we do not see initially.

As Socrates once said, "True wisdom is knowing that we do not know." Or something like that. The point is, knowing that there are things we do not know leaves us with so much desire to know even more.

Hahahaha. Sir Soh, additional grade please. Hahahaha.