At some point, just about every kid feels alone, and like they don’t quite fit in anywhere.
Sometimes, circumstances outside of their control make them feel even more alone, like the little girl who was bullied at school until bikers came to her defense. There are a lot of situations where kids can feel isolated, despite the best efforts of their parents and teachers.
For one young man on the autism spectrum, it took a writing assignment in school to help clarify exactly how he was feeling to his parents and teachers, in a lovely, self-aware poem about feeling out-of-touch and isolated.
Benjamin Giroux, a fifth-grader, was given an assignment to write a poem using the phrases “I am” and “I wonder.”
Those two simple phrases quickly grew into a staggeringly touching poem that left his mother and his father, Sonny Giroux, blown away by their son’s nuanced handling of the assignment.
More importantly, the poem — which has gone viral on the Facebook page for the National Autism Association — helps to prove a very important point: Benjamin is accepted; the attention the poem has received tells the whole story.
Read on to experience his touching words…
[H/T: Huffington Post]
The post first went up after Benjamin's mother shared it with the National Autism Association.
Benjamin's mom wrote, "My 10 year old son with Aspergers was asked to write a poem for school titled 'I Am.' He was given the first 2 words in every sentence. This is what he wrote…"
“I am odd, I am new
I wonder if you are too
I hear voices in the air
I see you don’t, and that’s not fair"
“I want to not feel blue
I am odd, I am new
I pretend that you are too"
“I feel like a boy in outer space
I touch the stars and feel out of place
I worry what others might think
I cry when people laugh, it makes me shrink"
“I am odd, I am new
I understand now that so are you
I say I 'feel like a castaway'
I dream of day that that's okay"
“I try to fit in
I hope that someday I do
I am odd, I am new."
It's a breathtaking poem written with incredible skill. We definitely think Benjamin, pictured above, had a serious talent for the written word.
If this incredible young man and his remarkable talent for language left you spellbound, make sure to SHARE his wisdom to give the world a glimpse of his thought process!
