After speaking with Addie about what she’d like to do for Dwarfism Awareness Month, as well as my amazing warrior mama friend, Heather, who is missing her sweet Ian each and every day, we decided that we’d like to share the message: I believe in the power of KINDNESS.
Ian was a powerful young man. In fact, just a little over a year after his passing, his message still carries on. Kindness. His whole being was always one of kindness. In situations where he could not do something everyone else could, Ian saw an opportunity to do something else. On his hardest days, he chose to power through when wallowing would have been more than acceptable. And in the face of adversity and naysayers, Ian chose KINDNESS.
The words have been used again and again, the idea that small is mighty/powerful/fierce. But Addie has chosen, as she does everyday, to see past what everyone else does. She pulled me aside the other day to tell me she’s happy she’s small. She told me she knew that sometimes I worry about her, but that I didn’t need to. That she loves that she still gets to be held a little closer than some of her bigger friends can be. That she will always be my baby, and that needing a step stool isn’t so bad. That her scars are kind of cool. That she wouldn’t change herself, because I wouldn’t change her. She sees past her height. Her medical complications. Her hard days. She sees to the root of who she is: she is kind.
Addie’s message for the first day of Dwarfism Awareness Month was: Don’t be mean. What does this have to, directly, do with DAM? Maybe nothing. Or, if you ask Addie- if you recall sweet Ian- EVERYTHING.
Kindness is everything.
Believe in the power of kindness.
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