she's human too....

I was in an old folks' home last weekend doing some visiting. While I was there, I witnessed a rather unfortunate situation. There was an elderly lady lying on the bed and she was unfortunately suffers from down syndrome.

While I sat there, she started talking to me. She might have been talking to me but I really had no idea what she was saying because the words that came out of her mouth were simply too mixed up to tell exactly what she was trying to tell me.

I could only nod to show her I was listening but I couldn't respond. I couldn't possibly respond to something I didn't understand. She kept going on and on, and I just kept on nodding. I didn't really know what else to do or what to say.

A nurse passing by noticed my "conversation" with her and I guess the nurse was concerned that I might have felt uncomfortable having to go listen to her "talking" to me. The nurse said I could ignore her if I wanted to, knowing that having to talk to a person of such circumstances wasn't exactly an everyday experience.

I asked the nurse whether she "talked" to people all the time.

She replied, "No, not really. Helen is generally very reserved. Keeps to herself and does sketching," and pointed to the wall just behind her bed. "Those are her sketches. She's really talented with sketching. She spontaneously sketches stuff she sees on tv!"

If the nurse hadn't told me those where her sketches, I would have thought those were purchased sketches for decorations. As I admired the sketches, I said, "It such a waste she God decided to make her who she is now. Her artwork could have been a pathway to a rewarding career as an artist."

The nurse look at me and said, "I don't think it's a waste. Personally, God must have His reasons for bring her into this world. She may be lacking in most of aspects as opposed to being normal. She may not be able to sketch this well if she was born normal. Helen may not be able to express herself verbally, but she expresses herself vividly through her sketches. Take a look at all the sketches. Each sketch represents some sort of emotion."

The nurse pointed to each sketch pointing out what they represented - happiness, pain, hurt, love, loneliness.

I was awed. Truly awed by how deep each sketch meant to Helen.

"Helen may suffer from down syndrome but she's human too. She's just different from you and I. We are probably not normal in her eyes. God probably wanted you to meet Helen. She hasn't had visitors over the 3 years she's been here. So happened you were sitting close to her and you provided some sort of company for her. I am sure she appreciates your company.........."