Today, my baby daughter and I went to a play area for children. While we were there, I noticed an autistic boy sitting by himself. Even though my daughter hasn’t started speaking yet, she went straight over to him with a big smile, trying to interact and get a response from him. It was such a beautiful moment, but it also made me stop and reflect. Children are like blank pages, free from the biases and constructs that so often shape adults. It reminded me of the words of Jesus about children and their purity of heart, and I found myself understanding it in a new way...

Wonderful story! Your daughter has a big heart. I love reading anecdotes like this.

Wonderful story! Your daughter has a big heart. I love reading anecdotes like this.

For some fool reason, this brings to mind a song from the musical South Pacific.

When I first saw South Pacific, I thought to myself, "That's the best song in the whole show so how come I've never heard it before?"

It's true. South Pacific is one of those shows where nearly every number is a hit. Everybody knows and can sing along to all of them. Except that one. They never play it. Why? Is there some kind of silent conspiracy to cover up such an embarrassing truth?

The sings succinct, to the point and beautiful.
But the world over, it seems like the majority are 'very carefully taught.' I'm not point scoring. It's the way the world is and it's sad.

I regret to say I have to agree with you.

Fear is a primal motivator, and it makes hate an easy sell.

What gets me is that people misquote Scripture 'Eye for eye...' from a tiny aspect of the Mosaic Law and ignore the vast bulk of Jesus' & Paul's counsel about love and forgiveness, e.g. Matthew 5:38-45

Well said and very true.

The funny thing is that your story illustrates that we are not blank slates: Your daugher presumably came pre-programmed with the neurotypical social tendencies that made her act as she did, and the boy, if he actually was autistic (how you know that he was, I don't know), likely came pre-programmed with the autistic tendency to prefer more alone time or at least time away from the noise and bustle of other children. Free from biases and constructs, yes; but blank slates, hardly.

And your thinking that this autistic child potentially being annoyed or over-stimulated by your toddler is "beautiful" reflects bias. Unless you are talking about them ultimately having a good time together or something.

@starkid: I don't think you have helped raise many children.

You may have noticed how good bricklayers or carpenters can lay things within 1° horizontally or vertically by eye, without resorting to instruments. Parents, especially those whose children have autism, can spot telltale signs. Instruments confirm for tradesmen, medical diagnoses for parents.

IMHO, kids are born a blank canvas, but don't stay that way for long. They are pre-programmed to accept what they find as 'normal.' If there's a daily routine or set of beliefs, they accept it initially. Like the song from South Pacific says, if hatred is normal, they hate. The questioning comes later.

An example illustrates. I would read my 3 boys bedtime stories. I would put on generic accents so they could differentiate the characters. They somehow got the idea that if you quoted someone, you imitated them! They actually became very good, and we didn't stop them; this was free entertainment! But they all developed the ability. One uses it professionally (e.g. voicing cartoon characters), another gives great amusement with it to his friends. He can imitate them all. The options for prank phone calls are endless.