Last month, I accompanied three Special Gathering members and our South Carolina Special Gathering program director on a Disney cruise.\u00a0 It was a great time of fun and fellowship.\u00a0 At 6 feet 4 inches, one of the members, Tony, is the \u201cgentle giant\u201d that usually lives in a\u00a0mythical land.\u00a0 He literally runs from confrontation and arguments.<\/p>\n
Tony\u2019s size commands attention.\u00a0 He is developmentally disabled, excitable; and he gets loud when he is excited.\u00a0His voice is as high-pitched as his body\u00a0is tall and broad.\u00a0 The entire package means a large, large man who has a female voice who speaks loud and excited.<\/p>\n
During the cruise, we were able to play an onboard mystery game.\u00a0 The object of the game was to find, arrest\u00a0the criminal and recover stolen property.\u00a0 You discover clues by going from place to place on the ship uncovering the clues from different pictures hanging on the wall.\u00a0 As we were beginning our game, a group of older,\u00a0middle school teenagers were in front of us.\u00a0 Understandably, they were a bit startled by Tony\u2019s large size and shrill voice.\u00a0\u00a0Unfortunately, the fun-making began.\u00a0 They were not laughing with Tony but AT him.\u00a0 Tony heard and understood but chose to ignore them.<\/p>\n
As we traveled throughout the boat gathering clues, we seemed to be with them each time we landed at a clue station.\u00a0 After about four encounters, their rudeness and laughter\u00a0became more and more hateful.\u00a0 Finally, when they stepped out the door to the outside, I followed them.<\/p>\n
In my calmest and most pleasant voice, I called to them.\u00a0 They turned and faced me still enjoying their latest joke about Tony. \u00a0 Their visages carried the smart-aleck\u00a0smirks that only young people discovering themselves can muster.\u00a0 Again, attempting to be more than pleasant, I tried to marshal up my most syrupy, vocal tones, \u201cYou know, my friend was born with his disabilities.\u00a0 He had no choice in the way he acts.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0He cannot help the way he looks or acts.\u00a0 You, on the other hand, have chosen to be rude.\u00a0 You weren\u2019t born that way.\u00a0 You can change.\u00a0 You don\u2019t have to be rude.\u201d<\/p>\n
Their smirks changed to indignant wonder that someone who would dare to confront them.\u00a0 However, one young man\u2019s face blanched with genuine shame.\u00a0 He fixed his eyes on his sneakers.<\/p>\n
There\u00a0are ongoing questions about how to treat rudeness from the\u00a0public when leaders are with our members.\u00a0 One school of thought says, \u201cIgnore.\u201d\u00a0 Another says, \u201cConfront.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0I probably fall on both sides of fence, depending on the situation.\u00a0 I would have ignored these young people had they quickly tired of their sickening jokes.\u00a0 Yet, because their bad behavior\u00a0continued to accelerate, I wanted to let them know that they were being inappropriate.\u00a0 Therefore, I confronted them about their actions.<\/p>\n
Titus says, \u201cDo not allow anyone to despise you.\u201d\u00a0 I looked into the nuances of the Greek in that passage.\u00a0 The translation is very clear.\u00a0 It simply means, \u201cDo not allow anyone to despise you.\u201d \u00a0All people have times when we are faced with the bad behavior from others aimed at us. \u00a0How we face these times may each be different depending on the circumstances. \u00a0Yet, there are times that we must stand up and say to another person, “You weren’t born rude. \u00a0You can change.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Last month, I accompanied three Special Gathering members and our South Carolina Special Gathering program director on a Disney cruise.\u00a0 It was a great time of fun and fellowship.\u00a0 At 6 feet 4 inches, one of the members, Tony, is the \u201cgentle giant\u201d that usually lives in a\u00a0mythical land.\u00a0 He literally runs from confrontation and…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":387,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,5,20,3,10,16,11,28,12,4],"tags":[690,21,688,696,7,691,13,694,19,689,6],"class_list":["post-68","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-autism-spectrum","category-christianity","category-church","category-developmental-disabilities","category-inspirational","category-intellectual-disability","category-intellectually-disabled","category-mentally-challenged","category-religion","category-simple-truths","tag-autism-spectrum","tag-christian","tag-christianity","tag-church","tag-developmental-disabilities-2","tag-inspirational","tag-intellectual-disabilities","tag-intellectual-disability","tag-mental-retardation","tag-mentally-challenged-community","tag-simple-scriptural-truths"],"yoast_head":"\n