Stuck in Neutral
Registered by embyr on 4/18/2003
1 journaler for this copy...
His name is Shawn. He's 14 years old. He's pretty sure that his dad wants to kill him.
Shawn has Cerebral Palsy. He can't voluntarily move any part of his body, not even his eyes. When he's fed, only a quarter of the food get's swallowed, and that is only because of the gag reflex. Because of his lack of ability to communicate with those around him, his IQ is placed at around 1.2....the same as a 3 to 4 month old baby.
We're lucky though. We get to meet Shawn, who is actually a very intelligent child, although he's never gone to school. He sister taught him how to read, when he was seven. She was pretending to be a teacher, and he picked up on what she said, even if it took a while...he'd be looking at something with words, and his head or eyes would decide to go in another direction. He remembers everything he's ever heard; commercials, melodies, t.v. shows, people talking...
His father tries to understand him. He wrote a poem about Shawn:
"Shawn is dead,
only he eats, breathes, defecates,
trapped inside some kind of being
that no one will ever
understand."
But Shawn's dad doesn't even begin to understand him. He thinks Shawn is in pain. He see's him as helpless...and hopeless. And more than once, he's hinted to Shawn that death might be preferable to him. Of course Shawn can't tell his father that he wants to live.
Will his father understand that Shawn has a right to live? That love can mean something more than putting a creature out of it's misery? That life can mean more than living, as you and I know it? Or will he tell his son that he loves him one last time, and smother a 'helpless, hopeless child' in his sleep?
Shawn has Cerebral Palsy. He can't voluntarily move any part of his body, not even his eyes. When he's fed, only a quarter of the food get's swallowed, and that is only because of the gag reflex. Because of his lack of ability to communicate with those around him, his IQ is placed at around 1.2....the same as a 3 to 4 month old baby.
We're lucky though. We get to meet Shawn, who is actually a very intelligent child, although he's never gone to school. He sister taught him how to read, when he was seven. She was pretending to be a teacher, and he picked up on what she said, even if it took a while...he'd be looking at something with words, and his head or eyes would decide to go in another direction. He remembers everything he's ever heard; commercials, melodies, t.v. shows, people talking...
His father tries to understand him. He wrote a poem about Shawn:
"Shawn is dead,
only he eats, breathes, defecates,
trapped inside some kind of being
that no one will ever
understand."
But Shawn's dad doesn't even begin to understand him. He thinks Shawn is in pain. He see's him as helpless...and hopeless. And more than once, he's hinted to Shawn that death might be preferable to him. Of course Shawn can't tell his father that he wants to live.
Will his father understand that Shawn has a right to live? That love can mean something more than putting a creature out of it's misery? That life can mean more than living, as you and I know it? Or will he tell his son that he loves him one last time, and smother a 'helpless, hopeless child' in his sleep?
