As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?" "Neither this man nor his parents sinned," said Jesus, "but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life. As long as it is day, we must do the work of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work. While I am in the world, I am the light of the world." Having said this, he spit on the ground, made some mud with the saliva, and put it on the man's eyes. "Go," he told him, "wash in the Pool of Siloam" (this word means Sent). So the man went and washed, and came home seeing. John 9:1-6
Every Saturday, my father has a class with two of his ex-colleague's children, a girl and a boy. The boy is 10 years old, a Primary Four student. The girl is 13 years old and studying in a private high school.
My father is a secondary school teacher. He was trained to major in Physics, but he is far more experienced as a maths teacher, as that is the subject he has been teaching all throughout his career. He is currently teaching Additional Mathematics and Physics. When his ex-colleague and good friend asked him for help to coach his children in maths, without hesitation he said "yes", because that is what friends do, and teaching maths is his specialisation. However, he didn't know what he got himself into when he agreed to help. Saturday came, and hence, his first class with these two kids begin. The class was held in the kitchen, and I was in the living room with my mother.
After half an hour, he came out of the kitchen with a bewildered expression, looking totally taken aback. He whispered to us, " the girl is a special child. I don't know how to teach her. I don't know how to help. I'm not trained to do this. I.. I don't know what to do."
After the two-hour class, the children's father came, and my father invited him into the house for a chat. My father wanted clarification, and so everything was spilled out.
The girl's left hand is crippled, and she is having a lot of problems with simple, basic calculation. When given simple mathematic questions that need a little visualisation and analytical thinking, she can't do it because she doesn't understand, even though the concept has been repeated to her countless times. She couldn't grasp what she is being taught. For example, when given 5 different lines, where only 2 are parallel, she can't tell which are the two lines, even though the concept of parallel lines have been explained to her again and again, in the simplest terms. And this is a question without any calculation. She cannot do maths, or anything that requires calculation, analysis and application of concepts, such as physics or chemistry or even accounting. And because of her left hand, she won't be able to develop her musical intelligence, if she had it, and she can't go to vocational schools because the skills taught in such schools need you to have two good hands. Nobody sews or knits or repair cars with one hand only.
However, she is not a special child. After countless medical examinations, the doctors concluded that she cannot be classified as 'special'. Thus, she cannot go to schools specially for such children.
She is not a special child because she is not suppose to be this way. She was supposed to be born normal, like you and me. She was supposed to be born with two good hands, so that she can press middle C on the piano with her left hand, and learn how to sew and knit and change car tyres. She is supposed to be born with a high degree of intelligence. High degree of intelligence meaning that she can do maths, understand how gravity works, know the colour of cuprum sulfate, and understand what is debit and credit.
But she was born the way she is. She is her parents' first child. When her mother was pregnant and near birth, her water bag broke when she was asleep, but she didn't feel any contractions or labour pain. Her mother thought it was nothing, until it was too late. This was her first pregnancy after all. Her mother didn't know. Her father didn't know.
When her daughter was finally born, the baby was already blue, and the forceps were used. Those forceps caused even more damage. The doctors told the first-time parents that a portion of their daughter's brain was already damaged beyond repair. This portion of damaged brain includes the motor functions for the left hand, and the analytical part of the brain, the part of the brain that is used for understanding 1+1=2, parallel lines, trigonometry and how debit and credit works.
She is not a special child. If you give her a novel written by C.S.Lewis, she can tell you what she read. She just can't do maths or any calculation. But she's not normal either. The girl is stucked in between.
So who gets the blame? Who is to blame? Her parents? Her doctors? Herself? God?
But this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in her life.
She may not grow up to be a rocket scientist or an accountant or a jazz musician, but she will grow up to be somebody used greatly for the Lord, even though she doesn't know Jesus. And God's power will be manifested through her.
She has taught me to be grateful to God for the way I am. Grateful that I have a good left hand, that I can play C on the piano with my left hand, that I may one day learn how to sew and knit, that I may be able to change car tyres, that I can do maths, that I understand gravity, that I can do debits and credits, that I can do reasonably well academically, that I can be an accountant.... these are lessons that no 'normal' human being can teach me. For all these I'm thankful that I met her, this wonderful 'stucked in between' girl. And I have no doubt that she'll be somebody extremely remarkable in the future.
