I have a younger brother who has several medical conditions. One of the conditions he has is Tourette Syndrome. With Tourette's, he gets physical and verbal tics. His verbal tics range from grunting noises to repeating words or phrases that he hears. He cannot stop these tics. Because of his illnesses and syndrome, he has endured many days of doctors, testing and etc. My brother has gone through so much and almost died. Because of his medical problems, he is three years behind in physical development. Can you imagine being so ill that your body has slowed/halted its growth? He is a very brave and courageous little boy who has lived with more hardship than most of us will ever have to.
This is the issue I have. My brother had returned from Riley Children's Hospital Thursday evening. I decided to take him to see "The Simpsons" movie the next day to help make him feel better. We went to the 3:30 p.m. show in Warsaw. In front of us was seated a male who looked to be in his early 20s. He appeared to have two female friends with him. This male bullied my brother and made fun of him during the entire movie. When this bully began, I kindly explained to him that my brother had Tourette Syndrome and could not help it. He rolled his eyes at me and told me it wasn't his problem and continued with his rude behavior towards my brother.
There were patrons seated on both sides of my brother and myself who were not disturbed by my brother's condition. You would think if any one would have been bothered, it would have been the patron sitting in the seat right beside my brother. Also, there were many children who were much louder than my brother. One child had explained all the characters to his father loudly enough for many people to hear. This bully did not choose to target any of the other children, only the child with disabilities. Even if he had bullied a normal child, bullying any child is wrong and abusive. He went after the most helpless of the children present.
To this bully, I would like to say that you may one day become ill. You might even become as ill as my brother has. One day you may have a child who has medical conditions. The day may come that you come close to a day in my brother's life. Will it be then that you will find the compassion that makes us human? How would you like yourself or your child to be treated?
To the females who sat with him and let his behavior continue, next time, please let this bully know how unkind he is being. If one of you is his girlfriend, take this incident as a red flag on what this bully is like, and find a real man or you will one day be the main target of his abuse. Parents, if you had a daughter that attended "The Simpsons" movie on July 27 at the 3:30 p.m. show at North Pointe Cinemas with her boyfriend, find out if this was her and get her away from him now before it's too late for her.
