Acceptance

One of the definitions of the word Acceptance is the act or state of being accepted. Or in my way of thinking, the act of being a part of a group.

I was able to witness this recently during WordCamp Dayton and I must say that it brought tears to my eyes during the 3 hour drive home.

I had asked my son Mike if he would like to go to the WordCamp with me. Mike is 32 years old and is mentally handicapped. I really wasn’t worried about the people that he would meet, I was wondering if he would be bored sitting in the sessions with me. Depending on the situation, Mike functions on a 6 to 12 year old level.

Throughout the WordCamp I would greet someone I knew or introduce myself and I made sure to introduce Mike also. He had a great time and had some interesting questions about some of the things he saw or heard people talking about.

Mike had a great time and I did not realize what all he had observed until we were driving home. He started asking questions about the people we had talked to. He started naming the people he had met. If Mike has one talent that is impressive it is his ability to remember people and names. I started to get tears in my eyes when he talked about how nice everybody was to him. As you can well imagine this has not always been the case.

So, in closing, I just want to say to the WordPress Community “Hats Off.” As in a lot of cases the Community makes a difference. As happens sometimes, it happens when people do not realize  that they are making a difference.