Today we sit with my now 23 year old son, who is gifted in many ways, and special in his special needs. Let me first share how Josh describes himself: “I am a pretty fun, hardworking man on a mission. I like the Bengals, spicy food, and playing video games — especially Star Wars.”
Time to sit down with Josh…
So Josh, welcome back. You know I get great feedback every time you speak on the Intramuralist. Thanks for being here!
“Thank you. I am honored to be here.”
You told me you have something specific you wanted to talk about today. What’s that?
“Learning to accept people for who they are.”
A question first… why is this topic so important to you?
“Because God taught us to accept each other for who they are. And sometimes we have trouble finding it. You also have to accept yourself for you who are. That’s something I’ve had to do. I’ve had trouble sometimes in accepting both me and other people for who they are.”
I appreciate you being so honest and transparent. Sounds like this is an area in which you’ve grown. So let’s get after it a bit. What does it mean to “accept people for who they are”?
“That’s a good question. That’s a really good question.”
Let me help . When you accept someone for who they are, does it change how you see them or talk to them?
“Yeah. It could be both. When you accept someone for who they are, you see them as friends, people that you care about and try to trust even if they don’t deserve it.”
How then do you talk to them or about them?
“When with them, you ask them questions. You ask them what they think — don’t tell them what to think. It’s the not judging a book by its cover thing. It’s no judgment and asking questions no matter what they look like or sound like. Sometimes it’s hard to listen to them, but you have to.”
Why do you have to?
“It’s being respectful. God teaches us to love and be respectful to one another. No matter what.”
Is there ever a time not to love or respect in your opinion?
“No. But there are struggles along the way.”
Why?
“Sometimes I really don’t want to love them because I don’t like them or what they think. Sometimes they’re disrespectful; they don’t do what God teaches.”
Is that what you’ve most learned — to love and respect any way?
“Yes. Love and respect them for who they are. If they’re weird or crazy or think differently, it doesn’t matter. God demonstrates his love for us so that we can learn to love all others. I have trouble with that sometimes, but I keep trying because it’s the right thing to do. The right thing matters.”
Let me go back a little to where we started. Why did you want to talk about this?
“Because we all need to learn to accept.”
What would happen if we all learned that?
“Then we can teach our kids as well, and people will get along better.”
Do you think we have trouble now?
“We all do, every single day. But it goes back to being the right thing to do.”
Thanks for encouraging us today, Josh. This is good. Anything else you want to say?
“Thank you for spending time with me on this blog, because it goes out to everyone who’s having trouble accepting. I want people to make life easier through love and respect.”
Thanks, Josh.
“Always.”
Respectfully…
AR & Josh