"Can't make me be".......

"This was a big mistake buddy, A big mistake"

You know you never thought anyone else had a blue 240Z until you got one and all of a sudden it seemed that everyone on the block now drives a 240Z and most of them blue, yeah I went old school with the Datsun example but I am feeling old lately no matter it still rings true, we are all super sensitive to the things close to our lives.

Well the exact same thing seems to be happening regarding our first dip into the deep end of the pool that is Autism, what we once had denied or not noticed in others or our own son has become keen to our sixth sense, everything Autism...Autism toys, Autism schools, Autism Doctors...Therapists...on and on and on, my friend has a friend, our friend has a son, my cousin knew a kid everyone on earth knows someone right...if you know me then you will appreciate that I will be the first to admit I thought I knew everything but since our diagnoses I have never been so humbled as I am now to how life is for others that live with differences from you and I. That crazy screaming child at the store or restaurant that would make your hair stand on end, yeah that's our son and guess what he can't help it. In a short amount of time I have found my wife and I offering consoling to others in these tough situations only to be greeted with a warm thank you and a sigh of relief that they are not alone......and to be clear not that we have determined their child to be like ours but more so that we understand how difficult a child can be in public and how quickly our society is to judge people that act outside of the norm.

So with snacks in hand and the DVR ready to play we were excited to see the episode on MTV tonight with Jenks while living with the Autistic 20 year old from New Jersey which brought to light that this unfortunate disorder is real, very real, and Chad is a beautiful reason for everyone to be inspired not ashamed of or disrespectful in any way.

I got a lot from it, 21 minutes of TV that I don't mind saying I watched, and certainly some lessons learned of much more value than I had intended to gain from a show on MTV.

http://www.mtv.com/videos/world-of-jenks-ep-2-cant-make-me-be/1647734/playlist.jhtml