I just watched The Crown Jewels, a Swedish film directed by Ella Lemhagen. I must admit that it was a beautiful film. The setting was absolutely amazing, almost magical at some points. I don’t mean magical as in Harry Potter magical, but more like fairy tail magical.

My favourite character must have been Jésus, and it’s not because his name was Jesus, but because he reminded me of some people I used to know, some very special people. My father used to work right by a community centre for young adults with special needs, some with Down syndrome just like Jésus. Sometimes these kids went to visit my father’s workplace to get an idea of what his and his colleagues’ job was all about. During the coffee breaks my father always used to sit with them, play games with them, just hang out with them… For them he was a friend. They could rely on him, talk to him, and he listened like no other would listen to them. For others these kids were just people with special needs, they saw them for what was written in their medical report. My father saw them for what they were; intelligent people just like you and I. I know this is true, because I’ve met them (I used to go there during some long gaps in primary school, sometimes with friends and sometimes alone just to hang out with my dad), and I must say that some of them have incredibly creative ideas that none of us would ever come up with.

Something I couldn’t get my head around was how bitter and self-centred some of the workers were. It was like they were looking down at these kids. It disgusted me. It really disgusted me. The ones who really felt it was these kids. But they never seemed to care about it. It was like they had no worries in the world what so ever. They were all so full of joy, of course in their own little way, haha! And they knew who were their friend and who were not. Do you know why? Because they would mock and tease the workers who they didn’t like. But the way they did it was yet so innocent and funny. I was laughing and saying “in your face” inside of me.  

I used to know a boy with special needs. His father called him stupid in front of me because he broke a glass. Do you know what he said? He said “I’m not stupid? Why do you call me stupid? You’re the one who’s stupid”. I could see the regret in his fathers eyes as we left. We left him speechless.