Fireworks!

I wrote this blog post a few years back, while I was working direct for Candeo. I was able to visit a karaoke venue where adults with disabilities would get to cut loose! It was a blast. But this particular story will always stick out in my mind.

So Katy Perry has this song. It's called "Firework". No this is not a staple in my cd player, but I did work at a high school for 5 years, so give me a break.I have recently began a new juncture in my life working for a company as a Community Living Instructor for people with intellectual and mental health disabilities. This move for me has been rewarding already and I'd like to share candidly, one experience I've had. So, a couple days ago I took a few clients out to karaoke. There is a certain place where people with intellectual and mental health disabilities go to get their singin' on. You won't here this less than once, but they are just like us.
So anyway, I'm at this event, and I'm watching person after person get up and sing. I'm thinking to myself this whole time, "this is so much fun." I mean, they were having such a good time. They were jumping and singing and dancing. They could care less who was watching. One of my clients tried to get me to dance with him and I declined. I guess I was feeling a little embarrassed. But they didn't care. And, you know, they probably could care less what you or I think of them. They probably wouldn't even waste the breathe to advocate for themselves because you and I aren't worth the energy to care. They know who they are and are comfortable in their skin. But, I'm not okay with how they get treated. I'm not going to sit back and watch them get bashed because people are too ignorant to see them for who they really are.
 So...off my soapbox and back to my story. A girl's name is called. She goes up on stage and it is apparent that she can't talk very clearly, let alone sing. But she gives it all she has. The song starts. She mumbles along through the verse. A huge smile begins to appear on her face as she reaches the prechorus... "You just gotta ignite, the light and let it shine" (face is beaming) "Just own the night, like the 4th of July" (suddenly she drops the mic) Enter Chorus...She suddenly beams in laughter and begins to jump up and down to the rhythm of the music. The audience begins to clap in syncopation. She is a firework... "Cuz baby your a firework. Come on, show 'em what your worth. Make 'em go ah ah ah! As you shoot across the sky, sky, sky." All through the chorus she is jumping and we are clapping. As soon as the chorus is done, she picks up the mic and begins verse 2...And you guessed it. The chorus drops and so does her mic and the jumping begins again. She is a firework and she knows it. Two things I realized in this moment.
 1. She has gotten more applause for jumping than you or I ever have for anything we've ever done.
 2. I nor anyone else are clapping out of pity or to be nice. She knows what she's doing. There is an energy about her that makes us see who she really is. She becomes a firework before our eyes. I am a better person for having seen her jump through a chorus line than I was before I came. She made that happen. Now, I'm not going to say that everyone has to feel the way I do about people with intellectual or mental health disabilities, but I wish you could. I wish that for two seconds, you could see someone for who they truly are and not because of a label that has been placed on them. I wish you could see them as God sees them. As He allowed me to see them.
 I wish you could enjoy the fireworks!