Hello!
Thanks for coming to read my story. My name is Craig, and I'm almost nine
years old, just about to start fourth grade (well, I must say that that's ow old I was when I wrote this story in 2003!). When I become a grown-up,
I'd like to be either a gym teacher, a third grade language arts teacher,
or an interpreter, in which case I'd learn some African languages.
I love
to play with my friends...and they would tell you that I have a great heart.
My mom says that, too, I guess because I really like to make people happy.
It's hard for me to make friends, though, since sometimes kids in school
call me 'four eyes' and tell me that I'm demented, which is just ridiculous.
I do
wear glasses, though, because I have very poor vision in my left eye. Can't
hear from my left ear, either, and if you looked very closely, you would
notice that the left side of my face doesn't match the right side. All
this because I was born with something called Moebius sydrome, a medical
condition that I didn't ask for, didn't want, don't particularly like,
but can't get rid of... so I've learned to live with it. What's important
for you to know is that you can't catch it from me. And that I'm a regular
type guy, despite this 'difference' of mine. Six of my friends know about
my Moebius, and the rest, well, it's none of their bees wax!
A long
time ago, when I was in kindergarten, I had a teacher who needed some teaching
herself. Here's what she would do. She'd choose a 'teacher's helper' every
day, and this teacher's helper got to choose someone else to assist. This
type of personality contest left me out in the cold. I would always come
home so sad, explaining who got to be the helper and the helper's helper.
Never me. Finally my mom complained, and the very next day I was chosen.
I picked another kid who was never chosen either, figuring that he might
return the favor. If you are a teacher, please don't do this in your classroom!
I
have
a ten-year-old brother named Brian who drives me nuts. He's always hitting
me, but I get him back by telling on him so that he'll get in trouble.
Brothers...what can you do with them?!
I
love performing. Check me out singing at the International Moebius conference...karaoke
is the best!
Here's
what I'd like everyone to remember. That we are all different from one
another, and that it would be pretty confusing if we weren't. And that
what you see on the outside is often very different than what's in the
inside. Say you could choose a paper bag filled with candy. Now one of
the bags in front of you is all wrinkled and has a funny shape to it, with
marks on it that you have NEVER seen before, while another just looks like
'the perfect bag', if you know what I mean. Standing up all pressed and
folded, with the loveliest design on the front. Don't choose too quickly,
because looks can be quite deceiving. If you select the strange looking
bag, you are in for one great surprise, because inside is the very best
candy in the world. The other bag you saw, the one that was very tempting
because it looked just like you thought great bags should look, had another
sort of surprise inside. A bunch of already-been-licked lollipops, and
they were ALL yucky licorice, too. Get my point?
Thanks
for visiting. I hope that you'll send me a little note.
In
the meantime, want to know more about Moebius?
Or
perhaps to read a poem about Moebius
that Joan wrote?
Joan
Fleitas, Ed.D., R.N.
Associate
Professor of Nursing, Lehman College, CUNY
Bronx, New York 10468
Last
updated: November 14, 2004
