On what was supposed to just be a classroom assignment has now turned into a viral, vulnerable, and touching poem created by a boy on the the autism spectrum. Ten year old Benjamin Giroux wrote a poem titled “I am”. After his parents read the poem it turned into something more for his family – a clear and raw glimpse into his life with autism.
In the poem, he writes:
I wonder if you are too
I hear voices in the air
I see you don't, and that's not fair
I want to not feel blue
I am odd, I am new
I pretend that you are too
I feel like a boy in outer space
I touch the stars and feel out of place
I worry what others might think
I cry when people laugh, it makes me shrink
I am odd, I am new
I understand now that so are you
I say I, “feel like a castaway”
I dream of a day that that's okay
I try to fit in
I hope that someday I do
I am odd, I am new.”
Showing Benjamin that He Matters:
According to a Huffington Post article, his father was both proud yet heartbroken this was how he felt. However since the National Autism Association had posted his poem on on Facebook it has been shared, liked, and commented thousands of times. And it shows that Benjamin isn't alone, odd, or isolated – it shows that Benjamin truly belongs in this world and touched so many people very quickly.