I want to write about something hard. I want to write about something that I don’t like, something that many people don’t like, and rightly so, for it is hurtful and mean and should be eradicated from the human Lexicon. Unfortunately they’re a lot of words like that but the one I’m going to talk about is The R-Word, Retard.
Have you looked up the meaning of the word Retard? To retard means to slow, not stop, to slow. People seem to to think that if someone is mentally challenged they’re an idiot. That is simply not true, at all, in no way, shape, or form.
I remember being in the fourth grade and accidentally running my wheelchair into a wall because my school lunch room was too crowded. I hit the wall and people were trying to get around me. I remember a snide voice calling out, “Please let the little Retard go.” He wanted to leave the cafeteria I was unintentionally blocking the doorway. I confronted him and asked “Why did you call me that?”
“Because you’re helpless, you can’t even walk right.” Then, he walked away.
That experience broke me. It broke me. I was able to be put together again, but I never saw myself the same way after that. It hurt, it taught that being different can be hard, being different can hurt.
People can come in all different shapes and sizes We need to remember to raise people up, not tear them down.