I have found that without any knowledge of it, human beings can sometimes exist within their own simply constructed universes while being deprived of so much. Within the complexities of human existence sits the little, the silent, the often forgotten innocent, who without knowing it, are at their peak an example of what we could be given the chance. 

When I was 5 years old, my parents told me that I was going to become a big sister. I was absolutely thrilled at the prospect of having someone I could share interactions with and so I pre-planned every element of the times to come.

 In my head, I was going to have a baby sister, who I could dress up and eventually boss around and I would finally have someone to play with. I had even come up with a name, insisting to my mother that they must use it. 

It was much to my disappointment then when I accompanied my parents to an ultrasound appointment and I was told I would be having a little brother. It shook my 5-year-old world and while temporarily unhappy with the development, I soon learned to revel in the same anxious anticipation that my parents had cloaked themselves in.

As with everything in life, nothing can be certain, a lesson increasing pregnancy complications and its accompanying hard times would teach my entire family. 

When my little brother Jeremy was born, there was little hope he would survive and after what seemed like forever, he did come home to us, tousled by the said complications and left with a life-long disability. My little brother would never be able to walk or communicate  like others did. But we loved him all the same.

I am not going to write about how difficult it has been over the years. Things like this go without saying and that being said, this is not something I have openly discussed with others. 
Purity is a word that for the longest of times I've correlated with my little brother. 

In his simplicity and kindness, he is ignorant of his own deprivation. 

This phenomenon is one I've always questioned. How can something with so little room for error, be punished by a universe that seems to be built against him? 

And having lived through the world of stories and watched the way the world reacts to the existence of persons with disabilities I thought it would be a shame to not see the true and strange sense of innocence of children such as my brother- one who is the observer and knows nothing other than the love we give.

He, like many with developmental disabilities remains in the state of childlike purity that has gone unsullied by the harshness of humanity against itself. 

He smiles at me at every given opportunity. He sometimes laughs at absolutely nothing and in spite of everything we have been through, I seldom ever see him cry.

Humanity is violently flawed but in spite of this, the most perfect of beings are those such as him, who orthodoxically and incorrectly embody the idea of insufficiency. 

And is a person insufficient simply because they cannot perform the same tasks, you, a flawed human with as much hatred, selfishness and ignorance as is begotten through all societal interaction, can?

To me at the very least, it is testament that humanity contains the capacity to be better. Yet we never choose to be. 

Over preached is the idea that we must consider the circumstance of others before basking in the self pity of our own problems. 

As overstated the idea, it is one we must never forget that while we are given perfect health and afforded several opportunities, others can only dream. Others laugh and smile with us with muffled aspirations and broken hearts. 

And for those of us who have differently abled individuals within our lives, please, be patient and give as much love as you are capable of amassing. 

-crumblingcookie