Paying Tribute

I've been a special educator for 30 years, and I really do prefer the term "special educator" best. It describes what we do, and it describes who we serve; they are both special. The inspiration for my career was a very special cousin of mine, 30 years my senior. Davis was born with significant physical impairments and never attended school. His limited capacity to walk and talk in no way limited his capacity to bring joy to everyone around him. As a young child, I remember saying to myself, “Davis is trying to tell us something.” I remember thinking, “If only he could talk, we’d find out just how much Davis knows.” I remember wondering, “Davis is so happy. How can that be?” He was so clearly bright. He understood conversation. He tried to join in. He would get so excited at being in a room with people. His inability to speak left you wondering just what was going on inside that head of his. Yet no one ever wondered what was going on inside his heart. He was bright, in a way that lit up a room whenever he walked in wearing a smile that no disability could ever stifle. When you saw that smile you saw pure joy, joy that I pray each of us can experience in this life.

Upon his recent passing at the age of 81, tribute after tribute attested to this joy that transcended reason in light of his circumstances. Had Davis been born in this day and time, his life would have been different. He would have gone to school. He would have had access to technology to communicate all that was in his head, and more importantly, all that was in his heart. Somehow or other, it seems appropriate to me that this career I have loved so should draw to a close in the same year of Davis's passing. That passing has caused me to reflect on my desire to contribute to making life better for people with disabilities, a desire that I recognized as a teenager and stayed true to for all these years. I believe I have contributed in some small measure, so it is with gratitude for the opportunity that I retire. Though I go, my love for our work and the people we serve remains with those who carry on, and it remains in my heart.