A friend of mine was startled by what he found in his elementary school records. In third grade he was classified as "Disabled/Handicapped" & in need of "Special Education."
Then he discovered that his IQ had been measured at 135 and he was listed as "Gifted." But, the school put him into remedial classes that included modules on "making paper airplanes."
He overcame this treatment to become a brilliant musician. He also teaches others including those whose gifts he is uniquely able to nurture.
What does society do with those of us who are "different?" Who determines the "norm" from which the rest of us are excluded?
Across history the brilliant have often been punished. The disabled routinely suffer discrimination.
Among the worst consequences come when brilliant people exhibit behavior that tosses them into some DSM 5 category of mental illness. Accordingly, they are pummeled, counseled & drugged out of their genius so that their "rough edges" can be honed to common taste.
The status quo is established & enforced by the majority. This is the group that Harry Potter's wizards think of as "Muggles." The Muggles are legion, the wizards are a distinct minority.
Occasionally, of course, the talented are rewarded, their uniqueness celebrated as life-changing. Many wizards suffered terribly as children, defined away from the norm by those uncomfortable with anyone who (like Robin Williams) is different.
One of the strangest phenomena is the way we fight to conform as teenagers. Later we must break from that norm to accomplish anything "new."
It takes astonishing persistence to achieve in a world that hates change & will only acknowledge success when "experts" affirm it. Would you really know The Mona Lisa was a masterpiece without expert confirmation? Why didn't the 19th century art world appreciate the brilliance of the Impressionists?
Even the image I made of an audience (above) would make many uncomfortable. Why not take a "nomal" picture?
When I came home from law school with a Martin Luther King "I Have a Dream" sticker on the bumper of my 1966 Mustang my father told me to remove it. "King is a radical," my dad said. When I refused saying he was a great man my father said, "Great men don't break the law."
The opposite is true. The suffragettes routinely violated laws. How many rules did Jesus break? How often was Ghandi imprisoned?
For every "different" person who persists to success their are tens of millions who suffer the calumny of the world because they are defined as abnormal.
It is hard to train caregivers not to discriminate against the drunk "Frequent Fliers" who stagger into our emergency rooms or the "Screamers" who, disoriented by drugs or dementia, cry out from our hospital rooms to tormenting ghosts.
Amid a society that sorts by harsh standards some triumph. Only love offers compassion & help to those who suffer right now amid the shadows of bias.
-Erie Chapman
Journal of Sacred Work 
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