David Dances
Last month, the earthly world lost a warrior. He was a child like none other I had ever met. No one but his mama really knows anything about those first years of his life or even his real name. For the rest of us, his life truly began around the age of 2 or 3 after he was abandoned in a Haitian hospital. For a portion of his life, he was a forgotten handicapped child that that was tucked away in a corner and forgotten at mealtimes. His screams seemed to fall on deaf ears from inside the locked bunkhouse as he tried to let everyone know that he too was hungry. About 6 Decembers ago, I discovered this little boy at the orphanage I had come to consider my second home. I had already been there over 24 hours and I never knew this kid was there. One day, I was passing by his bunkhouse during a time when everyone was supposed to be at lunch and I heard a wailing. Come to find out it was a floppy little boy with cerebral palsy doing his best to communicate in the only way he knew how....