Tired
of the tedious, depressing headlines in the news? Every day I read about more
human misery: the war in Syria…human traffickers preying on migrants desperate
to escape endless violence… the entire country of Greece drowning in debt, and
all the individuals across the globe at the mercy of cultural clashes and
political power grabs, trying to cobble together a new life and rebuild their
family nests… while conflict continues to escalate between Israel and
Palestine. Turning to local news here in America, we have yet another mass
shooting—this time at Umpqua Community College—by another angry, isolated young
man unable to find a girlfriend. (Beware the unloved adolescent!) All of the
hand-wringing and pontificating by media and politicians about overhauling gun
control laws versus our Second Amendment rights to bear arms has given me a
ferocious headache. Advil isn’t doing the
trick.
Although I’m not in a war-torn
country, trying to reach Greece in an over-crowded raft, there’s still plenty
to worry a mama bird in her semi-empty, Manhattan nest. Both my kids just finished filming their
respective movies. Max and his
girlfriend survived a cross-country move from Maine to California in a 16 foot
U-Haul driving day and night. With his
bank account dwindling, Max needs to put the finishing touches on his second
project in order to avoid becoming a (truly) starving artist. With every passing month, Henry and I must
adjust to the fact that our son now lives faraway and may never return. Does Max’s relocation mean that one day our (prospective)
grandchildren will grow up on the west coast, in a different time zone? Will we
be too old and feeble to journey cross country often enough to know our
potential grand babies? But that’s far
off into the nebulous future, so I should stop worrying, right?
More immediate and profound is my worry for
Sarah, on the autistic spectrum—who unlike her twin brother—has no job and no
idea if (or when) she’ll ever be offered meaningful work. Can our society really afford to pour millions of
dollars into research, education and therapy for children on the autistic
spectrum and then totally abandon them as adults? Educators talk about inclusion in classrooms,
but what about inclusion in the real world? The so-called “neurodiversity”
trend has thus far only embraced a tiny minority of adults on the autistic
spectrum. Those with Asperger’s at the
high end who are gifted writers, speakers, and computer programmers can forge a
path in the neurotypical world. So too can lower functioning individuals given
simple vocational training, who are willing to take the minimum wage jobs many
neurotypical applicants find boring and unsatisfying.
Where does that leave Sarah and all
the others who have managed to graduate from college, but still lack the communication
and life skills necessary to find and keep an entry level job? Answer: worse than nowhere. After years of being told she could succeed
if only she worked her hardest, Sarah is now finding out that she still hasn’t
come far enough for the world to accept her—a crushing blow for my daughter, who
worked so hard to succeed in school and develop a healthy, strong ego—and heartbreaking for me.
How does any parent face the idea that their adult child’s best efforts might
not be good enough to survive independently in the world the way American
society is currently structured?
Enough about tragic world events
and my children, right? This week’s challenge was to find someone or
something uplifting that might give me and my readers a smile. So far I’ve
failed miserably, I know. But, wait, John Lennon was born this week. To
commemorate what would have been his 75th birthday, Yoko Ono invited
thousands to Central Park to create the largest-ever human peace sign. ABC reported that 2,000 people gathered in
the East Meadow—far short of the number needed to break the current record of
5,824 set in 2009 by the Ithaca festival. But Ono thinks Lennon would have
been happy anyway. All different kinds
of people, old and young, former hippies and politicians joined together to
celebrate John Lennon’s birthday and legacy of peace.
Ono tweeted her invitation to the
event in September, shortly after her one-woman art exhibition at the Museum of
Modern Art: “You don’t have to do much.
Power works in mysterious ways. Visualize the domino effect and just
start thinking PEACE.”
Seeing the pictures of all those
people united in a peace sign made me smile and remember my youth and the
idealism of Lennon’s lyrics. I can still
hear his voice singing over and over: “All we are saying is give peace a
chance.” Maybe it’s time more people
listened for a change.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RkZC7sqImaM
Labels: Advil, Asperger's, autism, college grads, entry level jobs, Greece, gun control, John Lennon, migrants, moving, neurotypical, peace, shootings, Syria, U Haul, Umpqua community college, war, Yoko Ono
Although I’m not in a war-torn
country, trying to reach Greece in an over-crowded raft, there’s still plenty
to worry a mama bird in her semi-empty, Manhattan nest. Both my kids just finished filming their
respective movies. Max and his
girlfriend survived a cross-country move from Maine to California in a 16 foot
U-Haul driving day and night. With his
bank account dwindling, Max needs to put the finishing touches on his second
project in order to avoid becoming a (truly) starving artist. With every passing month, Henry and I must
adjust to the fact that our son now lives faraway and may never return. Does Max’s relocation mean that one day our (prospective)
grandchildren will grow up on the west coast, in a different time zone? Will we
be too old and feeble to journey cross country often enough to know our
potential grand babies? But that’s far
off into the nebulous future, so I should stop worrying, right?
