Giggle wrote today ...
Did you watch last Saturday's movie "I am Sam" on TCS 5? A real good one - if you didn't manage to watch it, go borrow the DVD and make time for it. A real sad but touching story which taught me a great deal of lessons - haha, like what my lecturer said, "even through movies God can speak and we can learn lessons" =)
Well, to summarize what the movie's about ... "I am Sam" revolves around the life of Sam Dawson (Sean Penn - thumbs up for his superb acting. He's totally "absorbed" into his character!) who is autistic and has the mental capacity of a 7-yr-old. His wife left him immediately after their daughter was born. He was left to raise her up on his own - which he did a great job in learning and adjusting to his new father role. As his daughter grows older, she began to realize that her father was somewhat "different" and she began to hold back her learning ability (she's a brillant kid) so that she will not surpass her dad intellectually. Sam somehow got into trouble with the law (which in his innocence he did not even know what had happened) and as a result the welfare dept felt that he does not have the ability (especially intellectually) to continue looking after his daughter and had her put in the home awaiting adoption.
It was sad (prepare your tissues) as you watch how Sam tried very, very hard to show to the welfare dept that he is able to be a good father - trying to convince his boss to give him a promotion and pay rise and that he has the ability to perform ... getting extra jobs to supplement his income because he needs to pay for his legal fees in fighting for custody of his daughter ... learning how to count and pay money at the counters ... trying his best to express his well intentions to the court, etc etc. In short, it's heart-breaking, especially when you see how people snub him and did not want to even believe in him, and Sean Penn played his character really well!
Back to the point, so what did I learn? I learnt that our society (and we included) are very "cruel" and lacking in compassion for people with such "intellectual disability". Often, we shun them because we don't know how to relate to them ... often, we exclude them because we don't want them to be a "burden" ... often, we think they cannot understand or express themselves and so we deprive them of chances to speak up ... often, we think that our good intentions are what is good for them without considering if it breaks their hearts and go against their wishes at all ...
Through the show, I felt that those who benefitted so much more than Sam were his lawyer (played by Michelle Pfeiffer) and his daughter's adoptive parents - they learnt from him what genuine and sincere love is ... honesty and integrity ... showing love to the best of his ability to his only child ... trying his very best despite his inability in many areas, etc. Well, the show does have a good ending and his daughter's adoptive parents agreed to a joint-custody of the child with him as they saw how attached his daughter was to him ... how much his father meant to her ... how much the child meant to him, etc.
The other lesson I learnt was how Sam's friends (almost all of them were "incapable" intellectually" - autistic, Down Syndrome, etc) were so loyal and stood by him from the time he began raising his daughter as a baby till she grew up ... how they chipped in all the money they had so that he can buy a pair of shoes his daughter loved very much ... how they tried very hard to testify for him in court, etc. Wonderful friends - although in the eyes of the world, they might be considered insignificant.
Over the years, I noticed that there is an increase in the trend of children disgnosed with autism, ADHD, etc - and it's sad because these are kids with special needs but yet we are often impatient with them. True, we don't know how to manage them or deal with them, but it doesn't give us the excuse to avoid them, shun them, or be "cruel" in our dealings with them because we think we "know best" and they don't. For all you know, God may be using them to teach you precious lessons you can never learn from other places and people - just like going on mission trips - when we go with the intention of wanting to "bless, bless, bless the people we meet", very often their simplicity and contentment with life, their genuine faith in the Lord rubs on us more than the intended blessings we want to shower on them.
God's heart beats with more compassion for those who are deprived more than those who are fortunate - allow your heart to beat with His if He brings your paths to cross with theirs. Would you?
