Between Spectrums

True Colors

Hey Readers

This week the blog's Facebook page just uploaded it's first video. It's a music video from a kid who goes by his rapper name MattyB. He does his version of Cyndi Lauper's song "True Colors". In the video we see a young girl with downs syndrome who goes to a group of girls and asked if she can play with them. But you can tell from their looks that they don't want to be near her cause she's weird. So the leader of the group leads them away from the downs syndrome girl, causing the said girl to feel sorrow. As she goes home, another girl sees how the other girls treated her. So she follows her. When the downs syndrome girl gets home, Her mother goes and cheers her up by making cookies with her. Then the mother hears the door bell and asks her daughter to go see who it is. And to her surprise she sees the girl who followed her. She asked if she can play to which the downs syndrome girl gladly pulls her in her house. They played with dolls and dress up and just having a good time, in which warms the heart of the mother. As the girls draw on the driveway, the group of girls that rejected the downs syndrome girl walked by and noticed that they were coloring. Three of the girls went but the leader was hesitant and then follows them. As they walked up, the downs syndrome girl invites them to color with them. After much coloring, we see that they drew a rainbow. And we see the leader happy to see that the downs syndrome girl is a good person.

Now let's look at the lyrics for a moment. In the video a girl named Olivia Key sings

You with the sad eyes

Don't be discouraged, Oh realize

It's hard to take courage

In a world full of people

You can loose sight of it all

All the dreams inside you

But you feel so small.

It can indeed be discouraging in a world of people who don't truly what goes on in the mind of a person of the spectrum. It can be hard to take courage but when we do we can show that we won't loose sight of the dreams we have and we don't have to feel small.

Then MattyB comes in with.

I can a couple of things

That should never change

Like the feeling of happiness

That you get when you're 

With friends on a summer day

The simple things:

How we work, how we play

How we all should treat each other the same

You acceptance isn't easy though

It challenges us all in some way 

Whether it's color, age, gender, or race

We get uncomfortable 

When someone else is different

And they enter our space 

And it pressures us to be open to change

But take a moment 

Flip the script and try to picture this with roles rearranged

Because your different 

You experience hate

Mistreated not because of actions 

That you've taken or a terrible mistake

But hated on because of your DNA 

Acceptance can be tough and at times uncomfortable. But as we "Flip the script" and see in their perspective, We can see that some people are hated because of who they are. Especially those who are severely autistic and downs syndrome, Which can be uncontrolled. Hate can be damaging to ones self-esteem, especially to those who can take friendly teasing to seriously. So if we take time to look in the perspective of those spectrum we can see how we should more courteous and caring to them.

Continuing with the song

It's crazy all the types

People we can characterize

We laugh when friends tell

Us a story and they start to describe

In funny ways a group of 

People through a stereotype

But when it points back at you

Hold up, that isn't true

You see it's never doing

Harm until it feels unfair

And then we speak up

But wonder why no one else cares

I think the truth is that

We all just want a place to fit in

It's hard enough to find friends

Much less for some other kid

But if we're honest inside

And really wanna do right

Judging others for something 

They have no control over might

Be comical at times

But that'd make me less of a man

The bigger thing I think

Is standing as a leader instead

Sometimes we make fun of people without thinking about how they feel, especially those of the spectrum. But when people make fun of us we sometimes take offense and do what we can to keep our reputations from being tainted. That could make us wonder. Does this person feel this way when I say cruel things about him/her? Don't ever think that those of the spectrum can't feel because they indeed can. If we are honest inside we can change the trend of speaking badly of others and stand as leaders for change. 

Finishing up

I keep believing for the day

We put our difference aside 

And let a person be themselves

Before we cover our eyes

Imagine life without the boundaries

We create with our pride 

And opportunities we loose

Because we judge from inside 

I'm trying hard to rationalize

How somebody can spot a

Splinter with a log in their eye 

There's a legacy that we're 

All equal and the answer is love.

The answer indeed is love. Just like how the kind girl lead an example and was a friend to the downs syndrome girl because of love, We can show love to those of the spectrum. Regardless of who they are or what the have. Love breaks down the boundaries of our pride and allows us to see perfectly. Because those of the spectrum can show they're true colors if we allow them to. I encourage you to show that love to them and show your true colors to them and they will show theirs to you and together you are like the rainbow.

If you want to listen to the song just go to YouTube and look for "True Colors" by MattyB and if you have any questions on autism please comment below. And please check out the Facebook page.

Thank you for your time

Tay Gallagher