Benjamin Giroux has quite a literary voice. The 10-year-old boy, who has autism, was recently asked to write a poem for his fifth- grade class. It was entitled “I Am” and every line began with “I am” or “I wonder” as a prompt. What Benjamin created, as a result, has moved thousands of people.
He writes: “I am odd, I am new. I wonder if you are too. I hear voices in the air. I see you don’t, and that’s not fair.”
According to the Huffington Post, his parents shared the poem “so parents with children on the spectrum could see what their children might be feeling and Benjamin could see that his diagnosis does not define him.” So far it has been shared nearly 10,000 times. Moved to tears by his work, Benjamin’s parents are incredibly proud of what their son has created but also sad that he feels the way he does.
“I also wanted to show Benjamin that he is not, odd, alone, or isolated and that his diagnosis is something to embrace and not something to hold him back,” [his father] said.
The proud dad said his son has been “overwhelmed by all the positive response,” especially when his poem got to 1,000 likes. Alluding to the line in Benjamin’s poem, “I try to fit in,” Sonny said the feedback has shown his son that he belongs.
“Each like, share and comment he’s received since has made him feel like not only he does fit in and belong in this world, but has also moved him beyond words that he’s touched so many.”
You can read the entire poem on the next page and check out the video of the story.
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