When I was 10 years old I stepped my first ever time in to a school; do not judge me so fast, I was a child with special needs, and thanks God, he offered my a couple of parents who provided me those special needs! As a child I had a motion disability having suffered the well known disease (Polio). Who’s fault it was getting the disease in spite I was vaccinated on time, this is not my subject, bottom line is I was not -and still- able to walk like normal people, and once again thanks to my parents attention, I was not left paralysed on a bed till death, but they took upon themselves full responsibility to treat me and provide me with all special needs a paralysed child might need including my education and learning. Because when I was a child like any child my powers were limited add to it my paralysis (90-95% of my muscles were paralysed) I would never be able to walk with or without any walking aids, all walking aids need a lot of personal powers like the power to stand on your own -or artificial legs- using walking sticks still needs lot of power in your arms to support your body, and even with the necessary power you still need lots of training to become stronger, and again I say to R.I.P. My Mother thank you from the bottom of my heart for all the troubles you had being my trainer, my therapist on top of your duties as a mother of 3 children and a house wife. This does no mean that R.I.P my father did not help or remained idle, enough the financial and physical troubles he had taking me as a less than 2 years old paralysed child to Paris to get some real Medical attention when Egyptian doctors failed to provide true attention due to ignorance or incompetent!
Any way this personal section as an introduction to my real subject was intended from it to thank my parents for all what they did to their child of special needs thou they did give birth to a perfectly healthy child but unlucky with the Egyptian doctors with all due respects to TRUE Egyptian Doctors like D.Magdy Yaakoub!
At the age of 10 when I stepped my first steps in a school I was the only child in grade 6th elementary Greek school or “Pri Eedadi as common in Egypt -Koboul Eedadi-” obviously I had to pass the official exams to continue my education later on in an Arabic teaching school and still this is not the point and why I said all that is because like I was lucky with my doctors I was lucky with my school mates too, there as a 6th grade child I was older than the 5 class mates of 5th grade class, or the 3 of the 4th grade and the 4 of the 3rd grade class, well a private Greek school late 50’s early 60’s it was a 1st floor apartment of 5 rooms, the bedroom of the owner and headmistress 2nd room for her office as headmistress, then 2 classrooms and a waiting small room at the entrance. My classroom was the biggest room I saw in that school having 3 rows of studying desks a row for each class 3rd to 5th grade classes and as it was not expected to have a 6th.grade class until I joined the school late because I had to pass an admission test first no 6th grade class existed, and I was sited in the empty sit of the 5th grade class, 5 students in 5th grade occupied 3 desks having a desk with only one student I filled that empty sit!
In that school I had the chance and honour to meet 2 children with special needs, both had brains difficulties and both were older than me, none of them was able to speak, the younger looking one was always shooting or making noises I guess he had some kind of physical pain when he was shooting to get the attention and his motion was restricted a hand always on his side raised halfway never up or down like if it was fixed that way the other moving hand was his way to get attention he would tap it on the other hand wrong way -that is why I think it was paralysed that way- he was always accompanied by some nurse or relative to help him out, and his parents in a despair attempt brought him to school to teach him how to speak and ask for help rather than the voices and ways he use to express his thirst or hunger that only the nurse or relative who accompanied him could understand. Obviously the teachers in that small private school were not qualified to deal with cases like this, and when the stronger teacher who was like the policeman of the school that would be used to scare any disobedient child -being the only male teacher too with really loud voice hearing it would make all students hold their breath until he cools down- this teacher was appointed to help that poor child that I believe he had not only mental disability but as well motional one taking in consideration his ability to express his hunger or thirst makes me doubt he was mentally disabled but for sure his therapists were disabled in knowledge! I did not have to deal a lot with this one but I recall once the teacher was trying to make him speak a world he repeated the world slowly time after time asking him to say it but he was crying or making noises not saying the world may be he was trying to speak but that what he was able to say, I noticed the teacher’s patience going away as his voices was becoming louder and louder but suddenly I heard the heavy bell used to announce the classes start and end bang once and then silence then I saw the nurse pulling away the child while the teacher come out holding his head bleeding some little drops of blood I understood later on that when the teacher;s voice become too loud for the child he had to throw that bell on his head!
This incident scared me to death from the other bigger and older child with disabilities, he was looking like the Mongolian people I guess he was the so called “Mongolian Child” to me at that age a person like him would never understand but how wrong I was and here is the prove, like I was scared from this huge guy all my class mates were scared as well, may be they passed to me their fears, because honestly I did not see any aggressiveness from him on the opposite I was the one that cause him pain and the reason to be hurt!
As the bigger student 6th grade in the school I was appointed by the headmistress to keep an eye on this child while in class break, they could not let him out with the rest of the school children that said it clear and loud they are scared of him specially after the bell incident that hit the teacher, all teachers were concerned of that fear they were afraid a tragedy might happen if the children attack him or he attacks them, so they decided he should take his break in the yard before or after them but still they could not leave him all alone so I was appointed to keep an eye on him, a scary appointment but I like challenges beside I could not say no or dare to refuse the headmistress request, mission impossible but accepted, so I would go first for the break in the yard take a place or choose a spot to sit then he would follow, obviously an empty yard only me sitting would be an attraction for him once he is in the yard and sees me he would come towards me may be he wanted to say hi or ask me to play together, who knows I never gave him that chance I wanted to always keep him busy so I was ready once go hunt that bee, or get my that flower that I end up giving it back to him, catch this bird or kill that warm and this proves that his mental difficulties never prevented him from understanding my orders, not only that but he would try his best to execute it perfectly to the point once he tried to climb a tree but his foot slept way and his knee scratched on the tree and started bleeding we all took care of that bleeding 1st me then the teachers but until now I still feel guilty I did cause that bleeding with my stupid orders just to keep him busy away from me, if I were older then I might had realized he was not stupid or retarded he just had speech difficulties!
Well back to the main subject in today’s article brains or attitude? But 1st left me define attitude: A manner of thinking, feeling, or behaving that reflects a state of mind, a feeling or way of thinking that affects a person's behaviour.
Well attitudes then are closely related to behaviours and behaviours are the 1st duty of parents and teachers to teach youth. Note Youth here are 0-10 years a synonym of child.
Therefore, proper behaviours is the result of successful teaching from parents and teachers, successful teaching has nothing to do with healthy and working brains, retarded or people with special needs can still be taught and once taught you attitude is under control!
Having manners, is behaving properly, properly means according to the norms of any society and society means people who live in countries, big or small not the jangle where Lions and snakes rule is kill or get killed, even Lions if not hungry and killing for food they do behave and will not kill you unless you do attack them!
All those simple logical facts I had learned at school when we had real schools, there we learned how to think not all facts and laws of nature are documented before Newton the laws of gravity did not exist in any book, and if Newton had not used his BRAINS to think and make conclusions we would had never progressed, that is in other words, schools open the doors of thinking but will never teach you everything in this world, it is your brains that helps you understand facts and behave accordingly.
Once again in this world God created Adam and Eve, and we are all born from them and their children to God we are all Equal but people become Black, White, Yellow, Asian Japanese and Chinese or Black African, Brazilian and Venezuelan then White French, Italian and German but that was not enough, we had to become Christians and non Christians, this too was not enough we had to become Orthodox, Catholic, Protestant, Evangelic and many more, still not enough Muslims had to be Soufi and Soni and Shit and who knows what else the worst is they have to kill each other and who flees the killing go lives in peace with each other in the Atheists countries or the countries that were classified as sinners cause they have other believes than Islam!
In response to a comments that said:-I strongly believe we will end our war on terrorism victorious but I doubt will start thinking of the future more than our tendencies to go back in time....I say it is not easy neither for tomorrow to make a sleeping BRAIN start walking up, moreover regain its normal thinking activity after been hypnotized with all kind of drugs so long!
However because I have faith in God and his blessings to Egypt and Egyptians I know Egyptians will start thinking again, may the peace of the Lord be with you ALL.
