Posted on 06/17/2013 5:42:11 PM PDT by grundle
What is wrong with this picture?
It's one of those things that you don't get, until you get it. Unless you are eternally empathetic, you look at this photo and don't see much wrong at all.
To Anne Belanger, mother of Miles, the photo is unbearable to look at.
When the class portrait for her son's Grade 2 class came home, she opened it excitedly, and immediately shoved it back in the envelope. She couldn't look at it. It broke her heart.
Anne's son, Miles, has Spinal Muscular Atrophy. At the age of 13 months, his parents were told that Miles would never walk, he has spent his life in a wheelchair.
Miles knows he's different than the rest of the kids, but he still tries to fit in. So there he is, on the far side of the image, neck craning as far as he can to stretch into the frame with the rest of his friends. He's beaming. It's school picture day and he's thrilled.
But the photo still broke Anne's heart. The photo was a clear example of how set apart her son is from society. Instead of a big group hug photo with Miles at the center, and classmates and teachers all around, a fully inclusive image, he was stuffed off to the side, some 3 feet away. An after thought, it seems.
(Excerpt) Read more at shine.yahoo.com ...
It disappoints me no end to see how many bleeding heart simpletons there are posting here at Free Republic. Life is unfair. You make the best of it and tomorrow is a new day. Do the whining posters ever stop to wonder why this is even a story? The mother, apparently feeling sorry for herself, MADE it a story by approaching some liberal scumbag Democrat reporter. That's how. And the reporter (cripes, hopefully not the mother but who knows...?) thought the class picture should be a "group hug" with the wheelchair kid as the center of attention? Please. I think I'll go throw up now.
That's the same message I got.
Any alternative that would please that neurotic mother would suggest the other extreme.
"If my child is the center of MY universe, it must be yours too!"
I agree....they should have put the child in a more incorporated way absolutely
Anyone has kids.....especially a handicapped one....understands
It makes a poor kid with a tough hand dealt feel a bit better..and belonging.....
And costs the rest of us nothing
Oh yeah...and I am such a puss right?
Excellent post Ben
Is it compassion? I’m not seeing compassion. I’m seeing a bunch of people agreeing with a mother who has a problem with a school picture. It doesn’t matter that she’s the mother of “severely disabled child.” Swith in a transgendered or homosexual chld or any other liberal talking point and it’s the same damn thing.
The mother is seeing something wrong. She’s seeing something wrong with her chiild. She’s seeing a school picture, which most kids and parents hate when it’s theirs, and making it an issue rather than enjoying a class pic of her kid with hihs classmates. We, parents and kids, go through this with class pictures and numerous other things. Oh wait...we can only talk about certain segments of society with compassion. I forgor. But because her child is “severely disabled” it makes it important and we’ll all supposed to feel that way when many of us don’t. But it’s not PC to express that anymore.
Why is this even a news story?
I peruse this thread and see that the least sympathetic usually post hostile and acerbic on any topic
And some are kind of my forum buddies...lol
Not me....I am an easy weep for kids like this
Wonder how many if the hard cores here have any children
I imagine that crippled child knows plenty about the real world enough already trapped in a chair with a death sentence on their poor head at such a young age
Good for you...u aren’t as my an as u like to act
That got me an eye wipe
I have a lot of children....when they hurt...we hurt
And not just for our own ...you know
Man...this is a tough thread
I hope the jackals read your post
Some here are very heartless dear ...trust me
FR is simply a free place for them to be themselves..nasty
God bless you.
This forum has always had a contingent of jackasses
The ones doing it here now do it whenever they can anyhow
I suspect in the real world they don’t have much going on
And Jim Thompson has given them a place to vent....
The pitch and feathers crowd is nothing new
But posters with a heart like you and others offset the cretin class
And we appreciate it
Well done
Excellent post ma’am
I will bet you not one of the hyenas posting ugly about this poor kid is a woman poster
Nor a daddy
But who knows
The jerks don’t self divulge much do they....or they invent
I have not seen your Nick in a coons age...
I agree with you. I’m a bleeding heart in a way (though I don’t fall under the PC definition). I hate to see humans or animals suffering. Tears me up. But it’s life. I’m a parent. I protect my kids always. Nobody fucks with my kids. I’m also raising them to be responsible and contributing members of society. The last thing I’d do is expose my child and family to this shit...make the world, want the world, to pity my child. It’s disgusting,imo.
I see it as the mother feeling sorry for herself and subjecting her child to this. All for her own benefit.
It’s the same with having sports teams not try to win becuase the other team is so bad. That, to me, disrespects both teams and all the players.
All of my kids have been in varsity and club sports. The best get to play. You want to play, you perform. It is what it is.
This mother, or someone, made this an issue.
That was supposed to read hardcase
Droid late at night....my apologies
No..it can’t be closer...the bench sticks out clear to where the boy sits in his chair. The chair is as close as it can be.
The mother should have been there if she wants to protect her her own feelings from being bruised. She knew the pictures were being taken. She knows her son is confined to a cumbersome chair which more times than not must be accomodated for just in daily outings.
I don’t believe for a moment they excluded the child....
I wouldn’t have done that...he would have stuck out all the more.
I find the picture sad....and some comments here cruel
But you do bring up a point I did not consider about her going to the media....being a bit much
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.