This one would have been an Insight, but I don't know what I would have entitled it.
Generally speaking, people at our school are fairly respectful to each other. Yes, we have some real morons out there, but noone is a complete jerk.

However, there is a select group of people at our school who have never been rude, or violent, or uncaring, or even mad at us and yet many people shun them like the plague.

I'm talking about the Special Education kids.

I don't understand it. Why is it we treat these people so badly? It's not fair, they are not animals. They are just like you and I. The only difference between us is one chromosome; we have 46 most of them have 47.

I have noticed as they walk through the hall, people will stop talking, back away and stare as if they are watching a procession of ebola monkies. Some laugh even have the audacity to laugh or smirk at them when they go by or are scared of them as if they will somehow "infect" them with a horrid disease.

One kid in particular, who's name I will change to protect his identity, Eddy, is one of them happiest people I know. He's quite bright, and yet most everyone I know, especially my friends sadly, treat my dogs better than they treat him. Eddy is kind of like a child in that he mimics what my friends so. If they start slapping each other on the back, it's fun for them, but if Eddy does it, they yell at him and tell him to leave.

Honestly, I've talked to him before. He's harmless. He has an innocence that I find refeshing. It is something few people have anymore, especially at that age. He's not "annoying" like a lot of people say, but is just full of energy. He always has a smile on his face which transfers to me aswell. Then when he leaves me and goes to talk to someone else, the atmosphere around him changes. Once again he is verbally, and maybe even physically abused. That isn't cool. However, because of his mental handicap, I don't think he notices or minds the treatment he gets.
But still, my friends know better than to treat another person that way. I think they loose sight of that fact or maybe even disregard it simply because Eddy is different from them.

This whole thing pains me, it really does.

I think to myself, "What If I was in Eddy's shoes and he was in mine?" He leads a "normal" life while I am then shunned by all.
I am all alone, things that were once simple to me now make no sense as if written in an alien language.
I can't work my hands the same way anymore.
Maybe I have to concentrate just to walk now. Perhaps I see a boy opening his locker getting his books out for his next class.
I go over to him to say hello.

It's Eddy. What does he do now? Does ignore me? Does he tell me to go away? Does he just humor me or mock me? Does he dehumanize me?

Or maybe he smiles. Unlike all the others, he treats me like an equal. He talks and walks with me. He is my friend.

But the thing that saddens me the most is this; most of the Special Education kids, the ones with Down Syndrome (Trisomy 21), will most likely live past 21 years old. Some won't even make it out of their teens. What will those who once shunned them feel now? I'll bet you anything it will be crushing guilt. Guilt for making life a living you-know-what for another person.