I had the indescribable joy of being able to see my autistic son perform in his very first school show at Lake-view Elementary School.

The theme of the show was colors, and my son’s class, the Success Room, did a song about boots of different colors.

Before the show began, Dr. Jordan talked to the students about all of the kids performing and to be respectful and listen and applaud for each performance. She then went on to say that the Success Room, my son’s class, would be performing for the very first time. She told the children that their song may look a little different than the others, but that they were very brave to get up and do their song for all of them. The class had been working on it very hard, and the group was ready.

Of course, being the crier that I am, I’m standing in the back of the room balling my eyes out at the whole thing. The class got up and did their song, and it was a wonderful success.

What happened next was for me a moment of humility and wonderment. I was expecting polite clapping from the children because that’s what they’re supposed to do, but the entire gymnasium absolutely erupted in loud applause and cheering. The amount of tolerance in that room was tangible and everyone was so proud of this little group of boys.

I want to personally thank all of the students and staff at Lakeview who were there. Hopefully your example can be contagious to everyone else, that a little tolerance goes a long way, and different doesn’t mean wrong, it just means different.

Stacey Bahr

Albert Lea