All my life I have heard about, seen, and even visited children close to my age with handicaps, mental illnesses, and even blindness. I realize how easily it could have been me, at birth, to be born with such a handicap to live with for the rest of my life. Even though I will never fully understand how it feels to be out of the "normal", I can only imagine how lucky I am.
             Over the summer I attended a youth camp with my church. As usual most of the "brave" youth went, but this year we brought along a "special youth". Never in the past have I had the opportunity to spend so much time with a teenager who was born with a handicap. I didn't have a clue of even the beginning, of what I was in store for the remainder of the week. I had thoughts of "Why in the world did he come?" , "Nobody will be able to control that wild child!" ,"He sure isn't riding the bus with me or I'll go insane!" , But boy was I in for a shock!
             It turned out this was to be by far one of the best experiences of my life. I really enjoyed the entire week and felt all of my years going to camp that this was by far the most special year. I grew to love this special guy named Robert.
             Robert has the disease known as down syndrome and hyperactivity. He loves to ride his imaginary four-wheeler, dance, sing, pray, and believes at times he's a wrestler for the WWF. It sounds almost amazing and most think it is hilarious. But I found out and from meeting and spending time with Robert, life is only what you make of it.
             I now look at my life and am thankful I wasn't born with a life-long disease that will probably never be cured completely. I also view children with handicaps in a whole new perspective. I enjoy spending time with Robert and there is never a dull moment. He always makes me laugh and realize no matter what, we are all special in God'
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