We are losing our capacity for empathy. We should try our best to understand those, who are different from ourselves. Some time ago, I saw the film “My Name Is Khan”. This movie is about autistic Muslim. Everything was good in Khan’s life (even despite of his autism) before the events of September 11. Since that day everything changed in his life. His son was murdered by his classmates, because he was Muslim, like his father. Khan lost everything. His wife couldn’t forgive him her son’s death. Their mutual friends were afraid to talk to him. Khan couldn’t understand why all these things were happening to him. He was a good person.
Personally, I am not sure whether I could continue my normal life after all these disasters and whether I could stay loyal to my beliefs, even without having this disorder – autism. Khan did it.
This film has a happy ending. It made me think about the stereotypes we have in our society, one of them is beware of Muslims. But the major part of them does not constitute a threat to others. Society bewares of autistic people. But a huge part of them are kind, compassionate and smart. I know the family, where one of three children is autistic. Parents don’t struggle from their son’s autism; they struggle from strangers’ snap judgments. Some of them don’t even try to learn something positive about this boy, and they mention only his strange language and inappropriate behavior. Moreover, I know this kid; I know what he loves and what makes him cry. He gave me more than I could give him. He taught me how to see people behind the labels which society put on them and how to respect everyone’s personality, because respect and right perception are exactly what I would hope to get if I was different.