If You Allow Yourself

If you allow yourself to confront something you fear, you just might find out it wasn't as you feared after all. If you allow yourself to go outside your comfort zone, you just might learn something positive. If you allow yourself that preconceived uncomfortable encounter, you just might discover a pleasant encounter instead. If you allow yourself to broaden your horizons and have an open mind, you just might discover the possibilities and become better informed and enlightened.

This is exactly what happened to a guy who admitted that people with Down syndrome made him uncomfortable. He admits he feared if he made eye-contact with someone w/Ds and they talked to him he wouldn't be able to understand what they were saying and would be embarrassed.

One day his 'fear' became a reality when someone with Down syndrome asked him, "So how are you doing today?"

It was refreshing to read his honesty in how he felt about, and viewed, people with Down syndrome ... and the lesson he learned from Amber.

In my ignorant mind they seem blissfully disconnected from the challenges of day-to-day life. 
I realized at that moment that I know nothing about Down Syndrome and I let my fear and assumptions dictate how I would interact with people like her.

You can read what happened with his interaction with Amber, and what he learned from it by reading his wonderful blog posting: Today I Learned Something About Down Syndrome.


We fear what we don't know; if only more people would allow themselves to know.