I think by now that we have all heard the saying that people fear what they do not understand, that they fear what is different. I grew up with a front row seat to a kind of different that didn’t teach me about fear as much as it taught me about something else much more important: respect.

Two very important people in my life have some form of cerebral palsy. I am very proud of one, and often afraid of and for the other. Why is that? Everyone has a worldview and whether or not you ever know what it is, you can still be effected by the results of that person’s actions based on their world view and how that causes them to act toward others and their environment.

So much of what we choose to do in life is based on how we perceive the world around us. I am sure that dealing with something like cerebral palsy must be very difficult and probably has a tremendous impact on how someone views the world around them. People can judge you rather unfairly based on things you may or may not even be aware of. There were and still are two people in my own life (Let’s call them “A” and “B”) who gave me a tremendous insight into just how much our reactions to that can change how others react to and see us. Both of these people just happen to have been born with cerebral palsy.

In the case of the person A, she was always very resentful of any difference between herself and someone the world would deem “normal” (as if such a thing could really exist in such a diverse world). She would become angry and defiant over any perceived notice of her differences and disabilities. As a result, she had a tendency to grow more and more angry and bitter over the course of her lifetime. That bitterness and anger could and sometimes did turn to threats of violence from her and build walls between her and the very people who loved her most.

Person B, on the other hand, seemed always to focus on what he could do and never really gave much heed to what he couldn’t do. He always seemed pretty comfortable in his own skin, more than relaxed enough about who he was and what he could and couldn’t do to help everyone else around him to feel comfortable, too. As a result, guess which one of these people seems to have led the happier life? Guess which one commands the respect of all of those around? Guess which one has been the greater force for good in the lives of others? Guess which one has led a life of selfishness and which a life of faith?

Those around you, those you come into contact with every single day of your life may never know your personal world view. They may never know anything at all about your personal struggles, your triumphs or failures. They may not know the basis for the choices you make, the things that draw them to you or push them away. They will know, however, something of your character, and whether or not you are someone to whom they owe their respect or their trust by the way in which you act, your reactions to them and to the events around you, and the way in which you treat them.

It is a strange thing this life we have. We always seem so surprised at the loss of a life, and yet, from the very moment of our conception, we are inevitably headed toward our own death. Life is a terminal illness. It does not matter whether you were born “normal” or came into the world with differences that seem to set you apart. Every human being, just like every other living thing that exists will some day die. The results of having a life are always the same. We are different from animals, plants and other life forms in that we are truly self-aware and have real choices we can make. From the very moment that we become self-aware until the moment we die, we are faced with the same choice over and over again…. What will we do with the time that we have?

Choose you this day whom you will serve, but as for me and my house we will serve the Lord.