Stranger Starts Talking To Mom About Daughter With Down Syndrome, Mom Left Crying

Keep Reading ↓

Normal is so boring…. until it comes to kids, and then if your child is any different from other people’s children, you will become the objects of scrutiny.

There are many well-meaning but poorly versed people out there who don’t know how to deal with difference.

People will stare, the whisper and make inappropriate comments — and they hurt.

Especially to the parents, who know their children are every bit as wonderful as any other parent’s child.

Pamela De Almeida has two daughters and her youngest, Sophia, has Down syndrome.

The Mom is all too familiar with the snippy remarks and blatant ogling that strangers doled out: these people who knew nothing about her or her daughter let their judgment seep into their words and actions, and it hurt.

The Mom was out recently at a coffee shop when she felt that familiar feeling. Someone was watching her daughter.

In fact, two women were. And they were either oblivious to the discomfort they were causing or worse, they didn’t care.

“I sat there and watched these two women crane their necks to get a better look at her,” she later wrote on Facebook, “completely oblivious to the fact that I was staring right back.

“Today it bothered me. It really bothered me.”

Completely frustrated, the mom was wary when another couple approached her. She’d heard it all before — what would it be this time?

But her concern couldn’t have been more unfounded. This time, for once, someone wanted to validate and not judge.

As she watched, the man went right up to Sophia and addressed her, saying hi with a handshake and a high five.

This time there were no stares, no whispers, just kindness and recognition.

Then he asked De Almeida something that she was not expecting: “I have a story I would really like to share with you. But I am afraid I wont get through it without choking up.”

He told the Mom about a program he’d seen on television, about a mother with a Down syndrome baby who’d had to defend her reasons for keeping the child when seemingly every voice urged her to terminate.“The point is,” she later recounted him saying, “you never know a persons (sic) impact on the world. You can never know what a person is able to do unless you give them a chance.”

But then, he left her with a parting thought that has stuck with her: “You are a beautiful person. Your daughter is beautiful. Congratulations!”The overwhelmed mother lost her composure — and for good reason. As she wrote, “He was the first complete stranger to recognize her WORTH. Her VALUE. Her BEAUTY.“In a world where my daughter’s life is whispered about, where she is stared at, this man saw her IMPORTANCE.”

You just really never know how much a few words spoken in sincerity, love, and recognition can mean to a person.

So if you see an opportunity to say something that you believe someone might need to hear, follow this gentleman’s lead and grab it with both hands!