I heard a speech on the BYU-Idaho radio this week that I had read for my ED 312 class. It was given by Elder Wirthlin, from when he was about 7 years old. He had friends who made fun of a boy who stuttered, and was a little slow. This bothered him for a long time, so one day with the Lord’s help, he mustered the courage to speak out. He told them, “Don’t touch him. Stop teasing him. Be kind. He is a child of God!” And so they did.

He had been afraid that he would lose his friends over this, but what he found was to his great surprise–their friendships grew stronger.
(Read the full story here.
It’s a pretty short article)

When I meet someone who is different from me, I’m not sure how I react. When I was in grade school through high school, I tried to stay away from those who were so different from me that they would have a negative influence on my faithfulness. I sought for those who thought similarly to me.

I tended to stay away from those different from me at church, as well. My family was a poorer family, or so it seemed to me. We went to the poorest school in the ward. My clothes were all hand-me-downs or from thrift stores, and it always seemed that the clothes the other girls wore were all brand new. The other girls were popular with the boys in the ward, as they all went to the same school together. We were just… different (or so I thought). I personally sought out others who thought like me, instead of trying to become good friends with the other girls.

When I got older, and was about to leave the Young Women’s program, I decided to reach out to the other girls in my ward. I decided I really wanted to be friends with everyone. I came to realize that, when I reached out to them, they were there and had never seen me as someone who was different from them. We had been through primary and Young Women’s together our whole lives! It was only right that we were friends. And I have thought of them as good friends ever since.

This week in my Special Education class, we talked about ways that we, as teachers, can INCLUDE students with disabilities and issues into the class as much as possible. When I finally graduate and become a teacher, of any kind, I want to be an inclusive teacher. I want the participation of every student. I don’t want to wait until they reach out to me to tell them that they are accepted in my classroom. My door is open to them.

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