Typical is Overrated
I had a conversation with a beautiful couple today that reminded me of this short post I wrote a while back. I’m traveling and speaking all week, so there’s not a lot of time to write, so I thought I would re-share:
I know this video is a few years old, but every time I watch it stirs something in me. Take a minute to watch it before you keep reading.:
This is Kodi Lee. He is a soulful singer and piano player who is also not neurotypical. He is blind and autistic. Maybe that’s why it first caught my eye. As the dad of a kid on the spectrum, I watch my son struggle daily as the world expects him to conform to a “typical” way of thinking/being. Why is he the one who always must conform and accommodate?
While this video and what Kodi accomplished by winning AGT that year is inspiring, that isn’t what stirs me to write this. What stirs in me is a question.
Why are we still so surprised when something like this happens?
Why are we so surprised that someone whose brain operates in a way that isn’t “typical” has something unique and wonderful to share? Why do we continue to underestimate what humans are capable of based on some mixed-up standard of what is, “normal?!”
YOU… however you were made, you were done so (the way we would describe in my faith tradition) fearfully and wonderfully. YOU… wherever you are on the broad spectrum of what it is to be human are made in the image of God!
Kodi Lee is not broken because he is blind and autistic. He is a child of God made in the image of God. He is filled with wonderful gifts to share in and through the beautiful way he was created… regardless of his status in a TV talent competition.
YOU too are a child of God made in the image of God. The world is a better place with YOU in it. You be YOU!
“Typical” is overrated.