May
20, 2004
Chinese
Version
Today, May 20, was
an unusually special day for me. Cedar Lane School, in Maryland,
is devoted to educating mentally ill children from elementary
through high school grade levels. Today they hosted a "Special
Olympics" and I volunteered there.
At 7:00 a.m., I met up with a couple of
Tzu Chi volunteers and we set out to the school. We took a
route that weaves through rural areas. The journey had a touristy
feel with all the dazzling sights and scenery. When we reach
the school we were welcomed by other volunteers who had already
gathered outside.
At exactly 9 a.m., we all entered the school
for the opening ceremony. We had the responsibility of cheerfully
welcoming the participating athletes (students), organizing
the activities once the Games began, and taking pictures during
the awards ceremony.
Bowling
When the games began, I went to check out
a bowling game. When I saw the setup for the game, I could
only wonder how this game would be played. The bowling alley
was slanted at an angle down towards the pins. "How strange!"
I thought.
Once the athletes arrived, however, I understood.
Most of the children are unable to use their hands to grasp
the ball, so they have to place the ball on the slanted alley
and then give it a push to have it roll downward. However,
there are others who can't push and have to touch a button
that will start the ball rolling. For some of the children,
even gently pressing that button was a difficult task.
Each time the ball started rolling down
the incline we would give a great cheer. Some of the children
reacted with great excitement. However others underwent a
complete mood change and started screaming and crying.
There was one young boy seated in a wheelchair,
with his grandmother and mother at his side. He cried, yelled
and adamantly refused to press the button to start the ball
rolling. His mother knelt down in front of him and made the
motion of pressing the button, as if to coax him to do likewise.
At times he hesitantly stuck out his hand to do so, but would
quickly withdraw it and throw a tantrum. After ten long minutes
or so, he finally pushed the button.
As the ball rolled down the incline, the
crowd gave a thunderous cheer. But the boy threw a fit. He
twisted his body around wildly, cried and screamed, as his
mother gently comforted him. When I saw her behavior, I was
filled with emotion and thought: "What an amazing mother!"
Her patience, smile, and kindness went straight to my heart.
When have I treated my five year old daughter with so much
patience and smiled this warmly at her? Ah, of course I've
done that, but only when she was a baby less than six months
old.
During a break, I went and talked to the
Cedar Lane School principal. He told me that the school desperately
needed volunteers to feed the students their lunch. For the
rest of the event, I kept thinking: "Maybe I can help
every one or two months."
Reflection
As I returned from this trip, I saw the
same beautiful scenery I saw in the morning. Yet I couldn't
admire it. Instead, I could only reflect on what I learned
about gratitude and patience. I found myself impatient to
get home so I could give my daughter a nice warm hug and kiss,
and tell her that Mommy wants to work hard to be a compassionate,
patient, good mother.
