Joy

New Horzions Special School has been an amazing experience for me. So far, I have only been working there for two weeks, but it has been wonderful, heartbreaking, important for me. I go in to help in the Rose classroom, all the classes are named after flowersJ, for two or three hours three times a week in between my classes here at NYU and Ashesi University. I am helping in a class with about seven people, ages ranging from 14 to 56, although most are in their early twenties. I know one has cerebral palsy, there is a student with down syndrom, and the rest have similar disabilities not entirely diagnosable. What strikes me every time is how expressive, emotional, intuitive these individuals are. Most don’t have the verbal skills to even speak, but have their own language anyway, whether in noises, in rhythms, in smiles, in their eyes. I have worked at Hillside House, the cerebral palsy center at home in Santa Barbara, and once again here, I am absolutely struck by the joy of these people. Sometimes it is the simple, wonderful things, like the sets of math problems I give to fourteen year old Eric everyday, over and over again, him spitting back answers to me the second I can copy them down for him. Godfrey and Muktah who try to out do the other in proposing to marry me. I have my share of love notes and graphic picturesJ. Helen, who is so, so smart and can understand everything we go over in class, has amazing comprehension ability, but who lacks the means to write it. I sit with her everyday holding a pencil in her hand and copying down the notes that the teacher is covering on the board. She is fifty-six years old and going to school is her favorite thing in the world. I have heard that she absolutely hates holidays and weekends, the days that school is cancelled. I am learning so much about humility and being humble here, appreciating simplicity, and recognizing joy.