An Inspiring Party

I’m going to tell you one of my genuine experiences in March this year. Perhaps it wasn’t dramatic enough to cause a stir but I reckon it must be so inspirational that it’ll make you reflect on your life.

In March, I went to a party to celebrate the end of a voluntary art project which a group of teenagers including me had cooperated with three disabled artists. They were Christine, a lightly mentally handicapped ballerina, Sing Lee, a vison impaired pianist, and Jason, a hip-hop dancer with speech and hearing disorders. All of them joined the party and Sing even brought along his brother, Hin, who was visually impaired too. The party was held in a studio where the whole project was carried out.

I’m going to share two moments which were so impressive that I’d never forget. The first one was the ‘music time’. Eating some snacks, Sing and Hin were invited to play the piano and this livened the party up. They moved their fingers on the keyboard incredibly skillfully and pleasing melody entered my ears. What surprised me more was that they’re good at not only classical music but also a wide variety of styles from pop music to opera. Listening to somebody humming a song they’d never heard of, they could play it after trying a few pitches for a few seconds. Besides, the pronunciation of the lyrics sung by them was so crystal clear that I could not help dropping tears.

The second moment was the conversation between Sing and Jason. You may ask what was so special. But In my eyes, it was droll and inspirational. Don’t forget their physical constraints. Sing has speech and hearing disorders and Jason’s visually impaired.  Can you imagine how they could express themselves and make the other one understand what they mean? Well, when Sing was speaking, Jason read his lips. When Jason replied to Sing by touching and moving Sing’s body. They kept communicating in this way for a while effectively. It was amazing!

They’re really brilliant. I mean they showed their abilities of breaking through their physical limitations which they couldn’t change. I can’t image how great the efforts they’ve made on learning to play the piano since they have only ten percent of vision. It seems that the piano has become part of their bodies. What was appreciated was that they enjoyed music with cordial smiles. As I’m involved in art as well, I do really understand how our physical confinement restricts our accomplishments in art. I therefore truly admire Sing and Hin.

What’s more, I think we ordinary people can’t have any excuses for being lazy any more. As what I’ve mentioned, the two disabled boys communicated effectively. This has changed my perception of possibility because they made something impossible possible. So I can no long give any excuses like “I haven’t got the time”, “I can’t do it” or “It’s impossible”. Actually, when I “watched” the conversation between Jason and Sing, I noticed their limitations and their greatness at the same time. I felt my limitation because I’d thought they’re limited by their physical constraints. Most people may think the world of the disabled must be very small. Take Sing as an example. You may expect his life boring because he can’t see and this makes him miss a lot of wonderful scenes in his life. But I don’t think so. As he can’t see well, he can listen more and clearer. As he has to rely on sounds, his hearing is so sensitive that he can even notice a mistune of a tiny pitch. I believe his world of music must be larger than those of many ‘normal’ people.

What I want to say is that although the social life of the disabled may not be as versatile as those of ordinary people, their mind can be broader than ours. This is what we should learn from them.