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After touching upon the unspoken feelings of the child on the first day of school, my next write-up has remained deeply ingrained in my mind.Not only does it talk about the virtues of unconditional love and acceptance, but is also a gentle reminder of the unique gifts each of us possesses as individuals
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It was the year 1979. A man named Robert was managing Wendy’s store in Port Richey, Florida.
He was looking for a suitable person to work 3 hours a day only during the afternoons. However, most of the applicants aspired for jobs with a duration of at least 20 hours per week.
Buried at the bottom of the stack was an application from a person who was looking for something part-time. His name was Nicky. When Robert called to schedule an interview, Nicky was not home. However, his mother assured Robert that he would be present the next day.As he walked in at the accorded time, Nicky’s physical appearance and speech completely reinforced his Down’s Syndrome. Robert had never interacted on a professional level with a developmentally disabled person. Yet, he went ahead and interviewed him.Robert found that Nicky was a wonderful young man with a great outlook, and very excited to be alive. He hired him for 3 hours a day and 3 days a week to run the grill and made sure to prepare his staff for Nicky’s arrival.
Although he couldn’t multitask, Nicky worked like a machine on the grill.Back in the day, there were no computer screens to work from. Every order was called by the cashier. It required a great deal of concentration on part of all production staff to get the order right.While Nicky was training during his first shift, Robert discovered that he had a hidden and valuable skill. He had memorized everything he heard! 🙂He was immediately accepted by the entire crew. His colleagues also observed that Nicky was a walking-talking perpetual calendar. With a perpetual calendar as a reference, they would sit for hours asking him what day of the week was December 22nd, 1847, or some more. He never missed.Nicky’s mom would come at 2 to pick him up. As Robert went to get him from the back, his mom said something to Robert that he could never forget. She said, “Let him stay there as long as he wants. He has never been accepted anywhere as he has been here.”Nicky had a profound impact on the store. His presence changed a lot of people. Based on what Robert saw and experienced, he was convinced that Nicky’s hiring was no accident.Each one of us is like Nicky. We all are endowed with both strengths & weaknesses. But we are all of value. If we seek unconditional acceptance, we too must accept others unconditionally.– Divya Rao
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