On Bringing Out the Best in Others

Have you ever met someone who instantly softens your heart? Their presence, their tone. The way they move. The words they say and the way they say them. Without knowing it, this is one of the powers that every human who has Down syndrome has – at least in my experience. 

It’s in Leah’s soft-spoken demeanor as she requests, “extra cherry grenadine in a fancy glass,” for her Shirley Temple to the waitress. Or when she approaches the bartender at an event, slow and steady, “Oh hi, I’m just wondering if you have or could make some chocolate milk,” to which, “Unfortunately no, but I wish we had chocolate milk, I’d love some right now too,” is almost always the response. 

Leah naturally brings out the best in others. As her younger sister, I have scored a ticket to the front row for these moments for decades. It has impacted my belief in the good of humanity beyond measure. 

A few months back, my mom surprised me with a copy of my speech from when I spoke to my entire elementary school at 6 ½ years old, one grade at a time. Okay, it wasn’t even a copy of the speech, it was the actual notecards that I held as I spoke, circa 1995. 25 years had passed and the notecards remained safe and sound, waiting for me to hold them again. Oh, the support of a mother. 

The words in my speech hit home. 25 years later – and I’m still singing the same song. A song of acceptance and hope, accompanied by my sister Leah on the piano. And yes, she performed a song on the piano after each speech in 1995, just as she did on The Today Show in 2011, and just as she would do today. 

This post, however, is not about the speech. Today, I want to write about the clipping that was attached to the copy of the speech and the notecards. With the author unknown, it was titled “Beatitudes”. 

The words on the clipping differed from the familiar Beatitudes spoken by Jesus at the Sermon on the Mount. Interested, I read them and they resonated deeply with me.

I was inclined to look up synonyms to the word “beatitude”, as I hadn’t known the word outside of the Bible. What I found was one word that flawlessly summarized what Leah brings out in others. What so many special people in this world bring out in others. 

The word was grace.

As someone who has witnessed others at their best through this grace – friends and family, the person who holds the door open those extra few minutes, the clerk at the grocery store – please don’t ever stop. 

That grace, it’s amazing.

Beatitudes
-Author Unknown

Blessed are you who take the time to listen to difficult speech, for you help me to know that if I persevere, I can be understood. 

Blessed are you who never bid me to “hurry up” or take my tasks and do them for me, for often I need the time rather than the help.

Blessed are you who stand beside me as I enter new and untried ventures, for my failures will be outweighed by the times I surprise myself and you.

Blessed are you who ask for my help, for my greatest need is to be needed.

Blessed are you who understand it is difficult to put my thoughts into words.

Blessed are you who with a smile encourage me to try once more.

Blessed are you who never remind me that today I asked the same questions twice.

Blessed are you who respect me and love me as I am, just as I am, and not as you wish I were.

Here’s to turning our minds Upside Down.