A Boy of 7… Saddest Story I Ever Heard
June 30, 2010 by MikeFook
My girlfriend told me the saddest story I believe I’ve ever heard in my life.
Today she went to a special needs school to help volunteers teach at the school. She coordinates placements of volunteers to help poor or disadvantaged kids.
She showed me photos in her camera of a 7 yr old boy with multiple disabilities. He has autism and can’t speak. He grunts and makes noises. Apparently he understands some things he hears but it’s best to use hand motions to teach him or tell him what you want. His whole right side is weak as if suffering from a stroke.
The saddest thing…?
When he was born his parents realized something was wrong with him. They never treated him as a human being worth their time or effort to help – they treated him like there was something profoundly wrong with him and like an animal.
They soon divorced. When they did – neither his mom or his dad wanted the boy and they dropped him off at the dad’s mother’s house – who is very old and has no money coming in.
I’m not at the saddest part yet.
The most heartbreaking thing I think I ever heard was that the boy won’t let others touch him because he knows he’s not worth it. He knows he’s not human – he believes it with his entire self – that’s what he learned from his parents. He believes he is not human and not worth someone’s effort to praise, touch, or hold him. He won’t allow himself to feel any love because his self esteem is rock bottom.
Did you ever hear of such a thing?
Welcome to God’s Game 101. I’ll help you come to an understanding I have about whatever god or series of events made this absolute tragedy that we call life.
God must really have a good plan for this little boy, eh?
No related posts.
It’s strangely comforting to read this as I feel like at least someone else gets it. At least someone else is as pissed as I am, or confused or just aware and willing to be honest about how shitty life can be.
I wrote my grad school admissions essays on how frustrating it was to hold a dying baby in a filthy orphanage in Ghana, or meet an autistic child in Indonesia who was, like the little boy in your post, treated like an animal because his parent’s didn’t understand him. I guess I believe on some level that with a law degree I’ll be able to change something on a larger scale for the better.
Hearing these stories and having similar experiences has made me feel so distant from others. When I get back to NY from traveling no one really cares to hear me rant about how fucked up things are….nor do they care to have me rant about the ridiculousness that goes on in the US.
Anyway, thanks for this blog. I don’t think its strange. I wonder why more people aren’t freaked out by all the crap that goes on in the world.
Jackie
really, most autistic kids don’t like to be touched. i work with them every day. it’s sensory, not emotional.
what good does it do to mourn over what they’re not? love them and enjoy them for what they are. they’re wonderful, and loveable. people are stupid, and treat other people like shit. now this kid is away from the fuckheads (who, really, maybe just really couldn’t hack it, having a child with multiple disabilities is more than many people can cope with without lots of help), he’s in a place where he can love and be loved. he will. it’s a good thing, for him, to be where he is. maybe “god’s” plan for him is just to let him learn to be happy being who he is, and to touch other people?
But, going further backwards god’s plan if you want to call it that was to screw the child to start with- that’s the point that I don’t understand… We can say god’s plan is to give this kid some kind of attention, but the real issue is at step 1 when the child was conceived and fucked from that day forward. That was the plan from step 1. Step 14 is that he’s in a place where he can love and be loved… step 1 was the most fucked thing that could have happened… and it did… and whatever is in charge – or whatever process is operating – is fucked, and sick.