"Sometimes the people we meet change us forever." ~ Ben Affleck (Forces of Nature)
When I think about why I chose to be a journalist, it's not about the stories I write or the rush of a deadline. It's about the people I meet.
There are people who you may pass on the street and not give a second thought. They may have a cool story to tell. Other people are doing great things and might one day change the world. Then there are those people who are just themselves, but that's all they need to be to make an impact.
I had the honor of meeting one of those people. His name is Owen Wright and he is 5. Oh, and one other thing: He's a little person. ... Little person, Huge personality.
He greeted me in the driveway when I came to his house. He instantly wanted to show me around, calling for the "newspaper lady" to come look at all his toys. I'm pretty sure I didn't stop smiling the entire time I was there, especially when he tried to play fight his dad with foam swords or when he made shadow figures on the wall (in broad daylight I might add). The kid never stopped. ... unless of course it was to look up more Batman costumes on the Internet.
He said he will be Batman when he grows up. And who I am to tell him otherwise? I mean, how cool is it to know Batman personally?
Besides instantly falling in love with Owen, I learned a valuable lesson. If you don't treat someone like they are different than they may not realize that they are. If we stop treating people like they are less important than others, there's no saying what they can do in life. Well, one thing Owen might never do is a dunk a basketball. But even his dad said he can't do that.
Owen is a bundle of energy and ready to make friends with anyone. That's my challenge to you. Put yourself in Owen's shoes. Don't look at the world like you aren't good enough. Instead run full force into life, even if you fall. Because he does his fair share of that. But he bounces right back up again.
I had the pleasure of doing a story on Owen and joined him on his first day of kindergarten!
Check out the story here on MLive.com. The pictures that go with it are absolutely adorable and will make you fall in love with Owen, too. Trust me.
Now I will just have to be patient and wait for the day when the Bat Signal flashes in the sky.
