Putting Notion into Motion

2. December 2010 by Kelly.

Many ideas grow better when transplanted into another mind than in the one where they sprung up.
Oliver Wendell Holmes When my sons were born, my wife and I had no idea that they would be born with Down syndrome; 13 years later we also discovered that they also have Autism Spectrum Disorder, talk about your catch 22. For the first 9 years of my sons’ life, I searched for the elusive answer as to why I had been given such a gift (that being my sons’). The question I asked everyday was, ‘what is it you want me to do?’ Which of course led to my next question, ‘are you listening to me?’ 

One day I asked these out loud and someone that was listening answered, ‘your questions are being answered over and over, every time you ask; pay attention and you will see the answers that you seek.’ So I wrote a book, in a way it was self therapy, I said what I needed to say on paper, got it off my chest and out of my head for all the world to see. As I was writing my book it became obvious to me that I was not the only one asking the same questions I was; the answer I found was that there are thousands of parents, family members and care givers looking for ways to improve the lives of the developmentally disabled. In the

 Sure most kids that are born with a developmental disability are rarely institutionalized anymore, medical care is better leading to longer life spans, Special Olympics has gone global and my sons have attended public schools with their neighborhood friends for the last ten years and all this is good, but it isn’t good enough. My children require constant supervision for their safety; what happens when they are finished with high school? Secondary education at this point is not a realistic option nor is early retirement for my wife and I; so what next? There are programs that can be modeled that offer services such as job training, day programs, work assistance and the like, but these models have taken years and years of trial and error and millions of dollars to fund and most of them would be nonexistent in short order if their funding suddenly stopped. 

So . . . what next? What is it that really needs to be done? Warren Buffet is an investment visionary; Bill Gates started Microsoft and now he and his wife help people living in third world countries live better; Oprah Winfrey is the most influential woman in the world and is known as the greatest black philanthropist in American history; J. K. Rowling created Harry Potter and is described as “rags to riches” and I could go on and on. So what do I do; I was born the son of middle class hard working parents in rural Wyoming (like there is any other way to describe Wyoming) and I am a high school graduate, I have a loving wife and twin boys and my wife and I work hard to make ends meet, but the ends meet and our sons depend on us and always will; so my idea in my book is still growing, be it slowly and so I ask, ‘what ideas do you have that seem to be only the IDEA stage?’ Or maybe you have an idea that has become reality; how did you do it? What did you use as inspiration when you had your biggest doubts and what advice would you give people like me to persist? 

Momentum; I love that word, for in it holds the key to getting things done . . .   Frances Willard
The world is wide, and I will not waste my life in friction when it could be turned into momentum.

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