Goodnight precious friends and family. We hope everyone has arrived safely at home and is getting some much deserved time to unwind.
Today is World Down Syndrome Day, a very, very important day for our world. Down syndrome awareness and education has been an ongoing fight for far too long. Ignorance and a lack of education about Down Syndrome is a very serious world issue and is still hurting innocent lives and families, every single day.
Only weeks ago, Ethan Saylor, an innocent 26 yr old man with Down Syndrome, was killed in Maryland while out at the movies with his caregiver. He was killed by three off-duty county sheriff’s deputies, who tried to drag him out of the theater. The result was his death on from asphyxiation surrounded by these three men. Excessive force was used. There is just no other explanation for it. This young man was of no threat to these 3 officers. These were police officers, meant to protect and serve but they were also human beings meant to feel. Ethan was heard by witnesses as he cried, “I want my Mommy!” If nothing else can break your heart, this can.
Where is the humanity? Instead we have the senseless and horrific death of a defenseless, beautiful boy and a broken hearted family and for what; ignorance, intolerance and a lack of humanity? The prayer remains for a return to humanity and an enlightenment to empathy. We pray for more awareness and more education. This should be mandatory.
Down syndrome is a genetic disorder that only affects learning. It does not affect your soul. It does not affect your ability to love and be loved. It does not make you “less than.” It is simply an issue of extra chromosomes. There is no difference to God. As a matter a fact, down syndrome people that I have crossed paths with hold more love, just in their eyes, than any other people I’ve ever met. They meet you with complete acceptance, openness and love. They can teach us of our own potential because they were born with it.
There is a great need for more awareness of all special needs children. Just today in the news, a school bus driver was caught on the news, forcibly kicking an innocent 8-year-old girl down the stairs of the bus and onto the street. She “appears to use her foot to kick the girl in the back, causing her to fly down the stairs and onto the ground”, a news source says. The girl not only was traumatized but her ankle was broken as well. The bus driver was immediately fired.
How many incidents like this happen that we don’t ever see or hear about? It’s hard to imagine.
We pray for an end to this. We pray for a better world. We pray for the strength of all families affected by down syndrome and we pray that this world takes notice and that awareness saturates us, so this will never happen again ever.
Prayers tonight and always, for all of the animals, domestic and wild. We pray for an end to all animal abuse, cruelty, neglect and abandonment. God did not put these beautiful creatures here to endure any suffering, of any kind. He put them here to teach us unconditional love and patience. He put them here to teach us gentleness. He put them here to be loved. No lives will go in vain. No pain will go unnoticed. No cries will go unheard. God bless them. Amen.
Love from,
Jessica Lee Smith
For Sammy and family
