The Moral of the Story

Cindy Trane Christeson

o7 “The most important single influence in the life of a person is

another person who is worthy of emulation.”f7 -- Paul D. Shafer

God has blessed me with a wonderful family and one of my nephews wrote

something wonderful that I think will bless you.

The author of the following piece, called “A Never Ending Influence,”

is my 11-year-old nephew, John Chapman.

It is about his 15-year-old brother, David. I could write many great

things about David, but what John wrote stands as a great column all on

its own. And you can quote me on that.

David, my big brother with Down’s syndrome, is the best brother I

could ever have. I could never ask for anything more out of him. My

family and I call him “Hug.”

I admire David for many reasons. I admire him for always having a

dream to be the best he can be. He can make friends quite easily.

Whenever someone walks by that looks nice, he extends his hand and says,

“Hi, my name is David. What’s your name?” It makes him feel good when

they answer.

He never worries about what’s happening the following day. He is

always adventurous. He also knows when someone is sarcastic, nice, mean,

or being helpful. He knows because so many people make fun of him because

he has Down’s syndrome. He is different on the outside, but a regular

person on the inside. I love him.

David has a dream to be the biggest and coolest rock star in the

world.

Every day when I get home he is waiting for me. He asks if I will come

up with a name and draw a picture for the CD cover for his band. I love

his enthusiasm in music, but he doesn’t have very good hand-eye

coordination to play an instrument. I don’t tell him that, I just always

draw things for him so it will make him feel like he is going to have a

band and play. He is always really thankful.

David may be the friendliest person you may ever meet. He always makes

new friends wherever he goes. When we go to the beach and there are some

teenage boys or girls he will walk right up to them, introduce himself

and start playing with them. He wants to have friends and make people

like him a lot. Whatever he does, he will always make and have a lot of

friends.

The coolest thing I think David has is a happy personality. He is

never in a hurry, so he never rushes anyone, including himself. He just

takes time to see, read and play with all different kinds of things.

David has a good time with everything. He might be slow, but he can

always learn or find something cool to do. I am surprised at how quickly

he learns to play video games and win all the levels and challenges. He

beats the game so easily. I think it is amazing. When I ask him how to do

something in the game he instantly tells me what to do. He now knows the

secrets to almost all of my video games.

David, even with Down’s syndrome, has a great head on his shoulders.

He is the coolest big brother in the world!