Million Dollar Lesson by Frances

Million Dollar Lesson by Frances - November 2013 Scholarship Essay

Kids with special needs are just that - kids who happen to have special needs. My school has a group that is called Peer to Peer. This group matches kids with special needs with peers to interact with and eat lunch together twice a week. I joined this group my sophomore year and after two weeks we were eating lunch together every day. How could I say to my peer, "Oh I'm sorry, today isn't Tuesday or Thursday so I don't want to eat with you today." It just wasn't in my heart to do that and honestly, I loved hanging out with these kids.

The purity with which they navigate the world is remarkable. While they have worries, for the most part, they just want to be happy and please others around them. The most valuable lesson that I have learned from this experience is to always accept others as they are. Many of those that we encounter in life are diamonds in the rough. The rough may be an angry exterior, special needs or a suffering soul, you just never know what is underneath until you take the time to get to know others and look below the surface. I did in my peer to peer group and will value that experience always.