Life is like “a crazy game of poker”…. OAR
I listened as my older son gave his valedictorian speech.
Well contrived to introduce the escapades and errors of high school life… the
speech spoke on a deeper level to my heart. His younger brother, Johnny sat next
to me. Some days it was easy to accept all that is Johnny and even not wonder
‘why’. That day though, stuck with me. I remember thinking about the poker game
of life, genetics and inequalities. At that point I still believed in
inequalities. Gifted and not so gifted; the ‘haves’ and the ‘have-nots’
intellectually so to speak. John was on the ‘not so gifted’ side. Not only did
he had some Asperger’s features in his personality, he also had medical issues;
consuming medical issues. His brain does not think the typical way; some would
say the ‘normal’ way everyone else’s does. Even the heavens have conspired
against him and made him left-handed. As though he didn’t have enough other
trials for learning and expressing and understanding. As I sat there and projected
the long-term success of my older son and then his sister as well, I realized
success is not always measured in ways of the world. Success is happiness in
whatever, wherever, one happens to be in this crazy game of poker we call life.
Watching a soul whose very existence exudes joy gives a new meaning to gifted
and success and normal and typical. Johnny will probably never be the
valedictorian of any organization or school. He lives in the permanent place of
‘now’. Aren’t we all supposed to learn the ‘power of now’? His enthusiasm and
joy are evident with every joke he tells. The people tell me they choose his
line at the supermarket even when it is longer just to get his ‘joke of the
day’ as he bags their groceries. When we walk through the state fair, others
say ‘hi’ to him at 10-minute intervals. I ask him how he knows them… sometimes
he remembers but most times he shrugs and says ‘I don’t know’. He may not know
them but everyone knows him. We call him ‘The Mayor”.
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