Gary
We owe this thread and conversation to you. I am very thankful as it made all of us stop and rethink so much. What does not kill us in the end will make us stronger and today we are stronger.
I think you might remember Dustin from our days in Lakewood high and around. I have a feeling he was in Lakewood Park the day you and your "rock" band played and finished with "Journey To The Center Of Your Mind." It seems so long ago and all so innocent. As we look back over the roads and mountains we have traveled.
Funny what you do with ideas, words and music, Dustin does with words, brushes, pencils, charcoals, and ideas. I believe he is the most talented artist I have ever met, and I have met many, and possible one of the most creative people I have ever had a pleasure of knowing, and again I have been blessed knowing a more than a few. When Dustin gets back to Lakewood, we shall host another patio party, hopefully you can bring the saw again, and we can show him how talented you are musically. It should be an amazing night.
Again, the stage crew is happy, thanks to everyone.
.
One step over the line. This stops now!
Moderator: Jim O'Bryan
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Jim O'Bryan
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- Location: Lakewood
- Contact:
Re: Kenny
Jim O'Bryan
Lakewood Resident
"The very act of observing disturbs the system."
Werner Heisenberg
"If anything I've said seems useful to you, I'm glad.
If not, don't worry. Just forget about it."
His Holiness The Dalai Lama
Lakewood Resident
"The very act of observing disturbs the system."
Werner Heisenberg
"If anything I've said seems useful to you, I'm glad.
If not, don't worry. Just forget about it."
His Holiness The Dalai Lama
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Gary Rice
- Posts: 1651
- Joined: Wed Aug 23, 2006 9:59 pm
- Location: Lakewood
To everyone connected with this dialogue,
Change is something that happens to us all. Sometimes, change is gradual, and sometimes, it happens quickly, and in a profound manner.
I feel changed by all your posts, and in a fantastic way.
I will confess a not-so-secret secret to you all. A person with"differences" often has issues of self-esteem and acceptance that remain as residual baggage many years after others have moved into the adult world. The fear of rejection can put up walls that remain for years. Even when they are accepted, many having traumatic childhood memories will think that they really are NOT accepted, or at the least, are being patronized.
These issues marked some of the biggest challenges that my special-needs students faced over the years. Over time, I realized that I too, shared some of them as well.
This particular thread has convinced me that Kenny, myself, and by extension, so many others, are being accepted more and more, as being vital parts of the societal conversation here in Lakewood. I'm still not quite sure what to think about the Kenny story. Perhaps a background explanation accompaning the story would have been a good idea?
All that people with differences really want is to fit in somehow, and to be accepted.
In my own case, that's a magnificient feeling, indeed. Thanks, everyone!
Change is something that happens to us all. Sometimes, change is gradual, and sometimes, it happens quickly, and in a profound manner.
I feel changed by all your posts, and in a fantastic way.
I will confess a not-so-secret secret to you all. A person with"differences" often has issues of self-esteem and acceptance that remain as residual baggage many years after others have moved into the adult world. The fear of rejection can put up walls that remain for years. Even when they are accepted, many having traumatic childhood memories will think that they really are NOT accepted, or at the least, are being patronized.
These issues marked some of the biggest challenges that my special-needs students faced over the years. Over time, I realized that I too, shared some of them as well.
This particular thread has convinced me that Kenny, myself, and by extension, so many others, are being accepted more and more, as being vital parts of the societal conversation here in Lakewood. I'm still not quite sure what to think about the Kenny story. Perhaps a background explanation accompaning the story would have been a good idea?
All that people with differences really want is to fit in somehow, and to be accepted.
In my own case, that's a magnificient feeling, indeed. Thanks, everyone!
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Jim O'Bryan
- Posts: 14196
- Joined: Thu Mar 10, 2005 10:12 pm
- Location: Lakewood
- Contact:
GaryGary Rice wrote:These issues marked some of the biggest challenges that my special-needs students faced over the years. Over time, I realized that I too, shared some of them as well.
The fact is, we all have special needs. Anyone that does not believe that is blind, and there lies that person's special needs.
No one is complete, there is no total package. As with Kenny I will never know what was going on in his head. He was always thinking and mulling over something. But his memory and ability to carry on very serious discussion when engaged made me feel like a simpleton.
(I just gave you permission to upload photos to the Gary Rice Photo Blog, through the member center. from there I will show you how to post them here. Go to bottom of the member center page and click on start photo blog, very easy. Hurry and one of those photos could win you an ipod in less than three weeks.)
.
Jim O'Bryan
Lakewood Resident
"The very act of observing disturbs the system."
Werner Heisenberg
"If anything I've said seems useful to you, I'm glad.
If not, don't worry. Just forget about it."
His Holiness The Dalai Lama
Lakewood Resident
"The very act of observing disturbs the system."
Werner Heisenberg
"If anything I've said seems useful to you, I'm glad.
If not, don't worry. Just forget about it."
His Holiness The Dalai Lama
-
Gary Rice
- Posts: 1651
- Joined: Wed Aug 23, 2006 9:59 pm
- Location: Lakewood
Kenny
Hey Jim,
One thing's certain at least: Even those who might smugly feel that they do not have exceptionalities...someday will; as age and life experiences take their toll.
That's just a good reason to have respect for everyone. We all take our turn with those hard times.
You are right Jim, we all need more of that great boost that all of you just gave to me!
One thing's certain at least: Even those who might smugly feel that they do not have exceptionalities...someday will; as age and life experiences take their toll.
That's just a good reason to have respect for everyone. We all take our turn with those hard times.
You are right Jim, we all need more of that great boost that all of you just gave to me!
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Scott MacGregor
- Posts: 29
- Joined: Thu May 12, 2005 8:48 am
- Location: Lakewood, Ohio
- Contact:
Gary Dumm, one of the illustrators of the Kenny piece tuned into the conversation and wrote something beautiful to me that I want to share with the rest of you hoping that Gary D. won't mind.
Gary writes:
"I tell you it's the power of pictures and writing together; the
wedding of the left and right brain/s simultaneously...they brought
forth from the depths of the past and from the persistence of memory a
bit of what Kenny probably DID go through but magnified by the internal
and external trials of Gary Rice. And a comic (certainly a limiting
misnomer) strip, like someone who is deemed "different", is an obvious
target.
I thought that Obie's reply to Mr.Rice was well thought out and
accurate: that this strip, like the rest, have been done with pathos
and love for what is gone...if only the attitudes that mock those who
are "different" were also gone.
I'm glad that Mr. Rice's dad was a
martial artist, and that he could transmit skills to his son that
obviously built his self-confidence and inner strength to their current
levels as expressed in his writing and teaching accomplishments.
It's too bad that Kenny did not have that. From my experience I find that
it's the things that make me feel uncomfortable whether they rise up
from my unconscious and conscious memories or face me in my daily life: the anger, regret, resentment and even horror which when examined as dispassionately as possible offer me the greatest opportunities for learning and growth.
I pray that it might be the same for Mr. Rice and all of we fallible human beings...that in being creative, we continue to try to grow smokey roses out of the rekindled ashes of the past and present".
I think that's really a beautiful sentiment. Good job, Gary D. and let me just say that you, Greg Budgett, and your wife Laura did a masterful job on the piece. --S.M.
Gary writes:
"I tell you it's the power of pictures and writing together; the
wedding of the left and right brain/s simultaneously...they brought
forth from the depths of the past and from the persistence of memory a
bit of what Kenny probably DID go through but magnified by the internal
and external trials of Gary Rice. And a comic (certainly a limiting
misnomer) strip, like someone who is deemed "different", is an obvious
target.
I thought that Obie's reply to Mr.Rice was well thought out and
accurate: that this strip, like the rest, have been done with pathos
and love for what is gone...if only the attitudes that mock those who
are "different" were also gone.
I'm glad that Mr. Rice's dad was a
martial artist, and that he could transmit skills to his son that
obviously built his self-confidence and inner strength to their current
levels as expressed in his writing and teaching accomplishments.
It's too bad that Kenny did not have that. From my experience I find that
it's the things that make me feel uncomfortable whether they rise up
from my unconscious and conscious memories or face me in my daily life: the anger, regret, resentment and even horror which when examined as dispassionately as possible offer me the greatest opportunities for learning and growth.
I pray that it might be the same for Mr. Rice and all of we fallible human beings...that in being creative, we continue to try to grow smokey roses out of the rekindled ashes of the past and present".
I think that's really a beautiful sentiment. Good job, Gary D. and let me just say that you, Greg Budgett, and your wife Laura did a masterful job on the piece. --S.M.
Scott MacGregor
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Gary Rice
- Posts: 1651
- Joined: Wed Aug 23, 2006 9:59 pm
- Location: Lakewood
Kenny
To Scott and your team,
Thanks for your posts, and to "the other Gary" for his thoughtful remarks, as well.
This has indeed been an amazing interchange. I believe that it was the late great educator, Leo Buscaglia, who said that we are not so much human beings, as we are human becomings.
To "be" is to exist, to "become" is to live.
I deeply appreciate the reflections of everyone who took the time to contribute to the discussion regarding this sensitive topic. Perhaps the topic's resolution lies not so much in a conclusion to the matter, but in the dynamc of the conversation itself.
Perhaps the timeless and classic Hebrew toast to you all would be in order here.
l'chaim- to life!
May we all be human becomings.
Thanks for your posts, and to "the other Gary" for his thoughtful remarks, as well.
This has indeed been an amazing interchange. I believe that it was the late great educator, Leo Buscaglia, who said that we are not so much human beings, as we are human becomings.
To "be" is to exist, to "become" is to live.
I deeply appreciate the reflections of everyone who took the time to contribute to the discussion regarding this sensitive topic. Perhaps the topic's resolution lies not so much in a conclusion to the matter, but in the dynamc of the conversation itself.
Perhaps the timeless and classic Hebrew toast to you all would be in order here.
l'chaim- to life!
May we all be human becomings.