Go Out And Live Life Even If It Means Failing Once In A While

I have tried some things in life and failed in ways that are truly embarrassing.

I don’t like failing. It stings. That’s fairly obvious since no one likes failing, huh?

Also, I hate to humiliate myself. It’s bad enough to live through an embarrassing experience when it actually happens. But I have this tendency to go back in my mind and revisit embarrassing experiences. I know I’m not supposed to do this and I try avoid it but sometimes I find myself thinking this way, anyhow.

I have thought with such vividness about past embarrassing failures that I turned red even though I was sitting in a room alone and the experience happened 35 or 40 years ago.

Even with these truths in mind, however, I still believe it is important to try things. It’s important to step out and take the risk of engaging in pursuits that might fail. God gives us one life here in this earthly realm. This life is meant to be embraced. It is meant to be engaged in. It is meant to be a terrific adventure.

God gave us the extraordinary gift of life expecting us to get going and live it!

Our Special Needs Children Are A Blessing

It is not uncommon for parents of special needs children to feel a sense of shame. Oh I know, there are people who will quickly respond to such a statement by saying, “What are you talking about? Stop saying that! No one feels that way!”

But I know this is true despite any protests to the contrary. It can seem to the special needs parent that something went wrong and, therefore… “I [the parent] must be defective or at fault in some way.” Embarrassment or shame can follow.

I know these feelings are not correct. I am not approving of these feelings or defending them I am simply pointing out that they exist.

There is even an impulse to want to pin the blame for what has happened on one of the parents. I know this because I have had people wonder aloud whose side of the family this comes from, mine or Nadia’s, when it comes to the special needs condition of my daughter.

Having a special needs child will present challenges. Most of us with special needs children will have our patience challenged to a degree we never imagined was possible.

In my case, the staggering amount of questions I get from my special needs daughter on a daily basis makes it feel like I’m a contestant on an episode of Jeopardy that never actually ends. The show just keeps running all day, every day.

“I’ll take ‘Needing More Patience’ for $400, Alex.”

And I am certainly aware of the truth that some folks who care for those with special needs deal with a much, much greater level of challenge than I do.

However, in spite of everything I have just written I believe most parents of special needs children will say their child has been a unique and wonderful blessing in their lives. (I write this with the full understanding that there will be some exceptions to that previous comment. Some parents will have such extraordinarily difficult circumstances that they will not see it this way.) But most of us will recognize the special needs child in our lives is a gift to us from God.

The person with special needs is not a partial human being, he or she is fully human. He or she deserves the same respect, dignity, love and grace that any other person deserves. He or she is not one of God’s mistakes, they are God’s beloved.

To parents of special needs children: do not feel shame or embarrassment. Our children are not a punishment that has been brought upon us because we are broken or because we have done something wrong. Our children are persons God has brought into our lives and families for a reason. Our children are a blessing.

An Embarrassing Tennis Moment

Back when I was in high school I was playing tennis with a friend and when we were done with our match I thought to myself, “Watch this! I’m going to leap over the net like they do on TV. It will be a little bit funny in an ironic way but also, sort of, cool.”

So I ran to the net and jumped. But a problem occurred. The tip of my foot hit the top of the net and rather than sailing effortlessly over the net with grace and poise I tripped and fell in an awkward heap to the ground.

It turns out my move was not cool, at all. On the other hand, it was more than a little bit funny to the people who saw it.

Fortunately, that’s the last embarrassing thing I’ve ever done!

…Unless you count all the other stuff.

Making A Lasting Impression... But What Kind of Impression?

Rachel let out a big burp while we were eating at Taco Bell. I wondered if other people noticed. I was hoping it was not as loud and offensive as I suspected it might be.

But when I saw two Taco Bell employees come around a wall from the food preparation area and point at us, I realized it was, in fact, louder than I hoped.

You might be saying, "Gee Dan, how can you continue to sit there?"

Oh, don't worry we left. And I'm not sure but I think I may have heard the sound of people cheering as the door closed on our way out.

It's so nice to go places and make a lasting impression, you know?