Original post at http://soundbitesministry.blogspot.com/2013/01/standing-up.html
NOTE: On some calendars this Sunday, January 20, is referred to as "Sanctity of Human Life Sunday," and on other calendars it is called "Human Relations Day." This coming Monday, January 21, in addition to being Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, and the US Presidential Inauguration, it is also the birthday of our son, Dustin. As I was thinking about all of that, I recalled something I had shared here before that I felt worth repeating at this time.
As a few of you know, our son, Dustin, in whose memory this SOUND BITES Ministry™ was founded in 1999, had many disabilities, both physical and cognitive. He could not walk on his own, he could not feed himself, and he could not talk. But he made a difference in the lives of many, many people before his death in 1998. And he continues to do so today in a variety of ways, including SOUND BITES.
A number of years ago one of our nephews was part of the audience at his high school in a classroom
In relating the story to me, he wrote, "I told him that he had perfectly described my cousin. I told him my cousin, Dustin, had never walked, never spoken, and died when he was 16. I told him I was very insulted that he had argued that my cousin, and the world, would have been better off if my aunt had killed him before he was born… People just assume that no one really knows a person like Dustin, they treat them like figments of our imagination, and they argue that they are worthless. But as soon as someone comes along who knew someone like, or is like Dustin, they seem to have nothing to say."
Thanks to my nephew for standing up for his cousin, who couldn't stand on his own. As my sister-in-law wrote afterward, "And the ripples from Dustin's life go on and on..."
-- Rev. David T. Wilkinson
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