Open Eyes

I am so thankful that God opened my eyes today! For one of my courses, I had to complete a service learning requirement. For my mandatory community service hours, I elected to volunteer at a government subsidized adult day care center. The reason I chose this location was because of my dear grandmother, who passed away seven months ago with Altzheimer's disease. I have already completed my required hours, now I just go back because the clients pull on my heart strings. But today, I realized that I have had a bad attitude. Thank the Lord that I can change it. As an education student, I have a mental image of my future as an educator. I have conveniently envisioned my day to day life teaching the brightest, most eager to learn students imaginable. On some level, I resented having to take a special education course, thinking that someone else, someone who is specially trained, would be better equipt to teach the exceptional children. Today, I realized that I CAN make a difference, and that I WANT to! What I do when I volunteer there is feed those clients who are unable to feed themselves and afterwards I visit with each and every person there, knowing that most do not frequently get one-on-one attention. The clients consist of a number of Alzheimer's patients, some mentally retarded, and a couple of individuals with cerebral palsy. One of the fellows with cerebral palsy was the cause for my epiphany today. He sat alone in a wheelchair. He couldn't talk or communicate in any way I could see. I sat down across the table from him for about three minutes before I gave up trying to entertain him, thinking he was beyond my reach. I went about my usual habit of visiting and chatting at all of the other tables. At the end of today, when nearly all of the other clients were gone and there was little for me to do, I grabbed some tennis balls and began to juggle, as I don't favor sitting still. I realized that that fellow was watching me. Then, he laughed. I can't tell you how wonderful it was to see this person that I considered to be nearly vacant expressing his joy. I continued to juggle for him, and when I dropped a ball, he made a motion as if he wanted it. Curious, I handed him a ball and he proceeded to throw it in his own spastic fashion. Then he laughed again. It became a game that we both enjoyed. This fun-loving person was there all day, and I didn't find him until right before I had to leave. But you can bet that next week, he and I will play together again. No one is beyond reach. There is no such thing as "it won't make a difference." My eyes are open now to this knowledge.