The Plea Of One Great Dad On Behalf Of His Beautiful Son
[guest post by Dana]
In the midst of a lot of stupid stuff in the news and Trump behaving like Trump, I wanted to close the weekend with a post that isn’t about the chaos of politics, the disgusting political kabuki that happens day in and day out, and the rank hypocrisy we see on both sides of the aisle. Instead, I wanted to put up a post that reminds us about the quality of life. Real life. Because real life is happening here on the ground, and for some, the schemes and dreams of politicians don’t garner much more than an exasperated sigh. And sometimes you have to let go of the big world – big picture stuff, and circle back home to your small corner of the world where your presence makes an enormous difference in the lives of those you love. That one place where you can affect monumental change right when it’s needed the most.
Consider Dan Bezzant, whose nearly-8 year old son, Jackson, is afflicted with Treacher Collins Syndrome. Because of how the condition affects the development of bones and facial tissues, and in Jackson’s case, leads to deafness, Jackson regularly faces vicious teasing from classmates. And from adults. According to Dan Bezzant, adults behave worse than the children. Already having had had one major surgery to rebuild one of his eye sockets, he will face other surgeries as time goes on.
Last week, having received a report from his wife that students made fun of Jackson, telling him he looked like a “monster,” Bezzant poured out his anguish in a Facebook post:
My heart is in pieces right now…my soul feels like it’s ripping from my chest…this beautiful young man my son Jackson has to endure a constant barrage of derogatory comments and ignorance like I’ve never witnessed. He is called ugly and freak and monster on a daily basis by his peers at school. He talks about suicide … he’s not quite 8! He says he has no friends and everyone hates him. Kids throw rocks at him and push him shouting these horrific words … please please take a minute and imagine if this were your child. Take a minute to educate your children about special needs. Talk to them about compassion and love for our fellow man. His condition is called Treacher Collins. Maybe even look it up. He’s endured horrific surgery and has several more in the coming years. Anyway … I could go on .. .but please educate your children. Please … share this. This shouldn’t be happening … to anyone.
Dan Bezzant reminds us of what really matters:
Jackson may not look like your ‘normal’ kid, but he is such a good boy and he’s got a huge heart. That’s what matters.
Jackson Bezzant needs some encouragement. If you would like to send him a card, you can do so here: P.O. Box 1563 Idaho Falls, ID 83403. Better yet, send him a birthday card. His birthday is Sept. 28. He will turn 8 years old. Help make it a happy day for a sweet kid.
(Cross-posted at The Jury Talks Back.)
–Dana
It’s good to be reminded how easy it is to give someone a dash of hope and love when they really need it.
Dana (023079) — 9/17/2017 @ 8:14 pmMy daughter was bullied at school. Once. I talked to the principal and I talked to the fathers of the other kids. Just once.
nk (dbc370) — 9/17/2017 @ 8:22 pmIt’s good that Jackson told his parents. Kids will hold these things in, not always understanding that it’s not how things should be.
nk (dbc370) — 9/17/2017 @ 8:30 pmMy brother was bullied as a child. But not every day! My heart breaks for this family.
felipe (023cc9) — 9/17/2017 @ 8:38 pmThe 1st line seems completely unnecessary and overly gratuitous.
Q! bert (fc15db) — 9/17/2017 @ 9:08 pmThank you, Q! bert. I just found that my Blocking Script bookmark can be edited in place to add an additional blockee, namely you.
nk (dbc370) — 9/17/2017 @ 9:14 pmToo much of a puss to scroll on by, nk? Oh well. No big loss.
Q! bert (fc15db) — 9/17/2017 @ 9:22 pmDone. Thanks, Dana.
Beldar (fa637a) — 9/17/2017 @ 9:24 pmMy point for those who aren’t nk id that this line was unnecessary to the purpose of such a charitable topic. If I were Dana, I would delete the 1st line and let the topic stand on its own.
Q!bert (fc15db) — 9/17/2017 @ 9:24 pmMy older brother was bullied. For a while. He fought his way out of it. What he did not want was my help. I really wanted to throw in with him; i’m like, “We’re a team, man”. At the time I didn’t understand why he didn’t want my help but later I did.
Steve57 (0b1dac) — 9/17/2017 @ 9:26 pmAlas, when the block-ee changes his screenname (e.g., to delete an embedded blank), one must re-edit the script accordingly. The parentheticals Patterico.com’s software generates to track unique IP addresses — “(fc15db)” for example — won’t work in the script as presently written, and those seem to change periodically anyway.
Beldar (fa637a) — 9/17/2017 @ 9:32 pmIts a tough learning curve. I am curious why the announcement that a commenter is being blocked is necessary. Is it impossible to use the blocking script without the nose-thumbing at a person that wasn’t talking to you?
Q! bert (fc15db) — 9/17/2017 @ 9:38 pmDana, sorry for tromping on this thread. I sincerely apologize.
I will discontinue posting here and quit lurking. The temptation to comment is too strong.
Thank you. Take care.
Q! bert (fc15db) — 9/17/2017 @ 9:40 pm@Q!bert:I am curious why the announcement that a commenter is being blocked is necessary.
You could treat that as information that you are rubbing someone the wrong way. If you’re trying to troll you deserve it, but if you are simply being misunderstood or the person blocking you is too sensitive, then other people won’t block you too and perhaps the person who blocked you will reconsider.
But if lots of commenters start blocking you, well, consider the common factor.
Frederick (80401a) — 9/17/2017 @ 10:05 pm@12. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0xJz9dLyRI8
“This is Radio Moscow. The stores are full of fresh baked bread in East Berlin.”
DCSCA (797bc0) — 9/17/2017 @ 10:28 pmAnd from adults. According to Dan Bezzant, adults behave worse than the children.
the linked article doesn’t really document this
happyfeet (28a91b) — 9/18/2017 @ 3:26 amAt this point, I’ll give a shout-out for the WalMart store in Lehighton, Pennsylvania. For several years, they have employed a woman with severe facial deformities, which appear similar to Treacher Collins Syndrome, though I do not know the cause in her individual case. As far as I know, she has no other handicaps. She appears to work most phases of the WalMart operation, including as a cashier.
I will say this: it is uncomfortable to look at her, though I have never deliberately avoided her check-out lane. She is very courageous for working in a very public job, and WalMart deserves credit for having hired her.
The Dana who used to live in Pennsylvania (e11fc4) — 9/18/2017 @ 6:59 amI was bullied every single day until I got strong and tall enough to fight back. I don’t like fighting. It is necessary, sometimes. That is why I enrolled my own sons in karate early. Bullies are only brave in groups, and they like to pick on the weak or different.
Children can be awful little creatures until they are taught to be decent. “Lord of the Flies” has a lot of accuracy.
On the other hand, can you blame the kids? Look at how adults are acting, sneering and calling people vulgar names and generally acting like “mean girls.”
I guess it is all primate politics.
Dana, thank you for sharing this story. I’m with Beldar on this.
Simon Jester (c8876d) — 9/18/2017 @ 7:09 amThanks for this post.
Patterico (115b1f) — 9/18/2017 @ 7:28 amNice post.
Nk: grow up Grumpy.
Ben burn (b3d5ab) — 9/18/2017 @ 7:36 am“But if lots of commenters start blocking you, well, consider the common factor.”
You mean they’re a ‘clique’?
Ben burn (b3d5ab) — 9/18/2017 @ 7:39 amFrom Danas link..
“Nearly half of the millennials polled in a recent University of Chicago survey say that colleges should limit freedom of speech “in extreme cases,” like slurs and other intentionally offensive language and costumes that stereotype certain racial and ethnic groups.”
Any Millennials here want to stifle the speech at Patterico U.?
Ben burn (b3d5ab) — 9/18/2017 @ 7:48 amBeldar I’m sure predates Millennials by some years but he’s a Trend monkey!
Ben burn (b3d5ab) — 9/18/2017 @ 7:50 amNot a clique but we are a community, Ben burn. Criticism is a part of commenting but we know that quibbling with and nitpicking the host’s co-bloggers may make them decide not to blog, and that would be a shame.
DRJ (15874d) — 9/18/2017 @ 7:59 amSaw DRJ’s comment on sidebar. Clicked Comments, clicked Blocking Script. Read DRJ’s comment. Saw that Ben burn left four in a row but only the signature line is shown. I feel like Forest Gump when he found that second layer of chocolate.
nk (dbc370) — 9/18/2017 @ 8:05 amSewage disposal isn’t censorship.
Rick Ballard (1eda47) — 9/18/2017 @ 8:06 amNO ONE is prouder of their ignorance. Good show..
Ben burn (b3d5ab) — 9/18/2017 @ 8:08 amEveryone’s time is limited these days, Ben burn. We all — you, me, and everyone here — decide where and how to spend our time, online and in the real world. I understand if some people have decided their time is too valuable to spend in what has become an endless loop of mostly useless arguing.
DRJ (15874d) — 9/18/2017 @ 8:16 amYou misunderstand Drj. I welcome their cryptic self censorship. They reveal themselves: unmask their tolerance of antidemocracy.
Ben burn (b3d5ab) — 9/18/2017 @ 8:18 amHe’s a jackals, drj always has been always will be. The so-called parents in the tale were likely punks in high school. That they would behave this way to thus sweet boy.
narciso (d1f714) — 9/18/2017 @ 8:22 amBen, it is not censorship to decline to read something. In fact, it’s the very opposite, as the people who used to ask that trolls be banned now just happily go along without even worrying that your speech is completely accessible to all who do not take proactive measures to avoid it.
I think your need to respond to this with hostility says something about the reason folks are choosing not to read your opinions. Too many people are using political discussion as a way to fight other people, as though increasing the temperature in these threads is a form of activism. That’s tedious!
We’ve all, myself included, have to try to get back on track with civil, intelligent, respectful conversation with those we completely disagree with. It’s hard to do these days, or at least it can be for me on issues I care about, and the effort helps us develop patience and self control. And it’s better for the country.
If folks listened and respected eachother, Trump never would have happened. Even his fans agree with this.
Dustin (ba94b2) — 9/18/2017 @ 8:28 amHeh. Narciso remembers the blowback from the fear blocking of comments.
Ben burn (b3d5ab) — 9/18/2017 @ 8:29 amMe, hostile? I have respect. I just dont have what some find important: ear tickling. They have freedom to not read. What they don’t have is the chops to deal with it, and that’s ok with me.
Ben burn (b3d5ab) — 9/18/2017 @ 8:33 amIf you mean respect in the sense that I shouldn’t say something people don’t like to hear? Ok, then. I have no respect.
Ben burn (b3d5ab) — 9/18/2017 @ 8:38 amThank you blocker crew – it woiks, though admittedly I tire only of a very few intermittents.
urbanleftbehind (5eecdb) — 9/18/2017 @ 8:50 amNo, I don’t mean that. I mean the way a lot of people debate by rephrasing what they don’t like in hilariously incorrect strawmen. for example ^^^
Dustin (ba94b2) — 9/18/2017 @ 9:20 amExactly, Dustin. Strawman arguments are not worth anyone’s time to read, much less to answer.
felipe (b5e0f4) — 9/18/2017 @ 9:59 amDone, and I think it’s a sad day when we can’t even agree to send a little boy a birthday card without endless debate and nitpicking.
ROCHF (877dba) — 9/18/2017 @ 10:25 amThis. A thousand times, most sadly, this:
Dana (2c617c) — 9/18/2017 @ 12:46 pmYes, Dana. No virtue signaling here.
Steve57 (0b1dac) — 9/18/2017 @ 12:52 pmA New York Times reporter getting involved in a story, trying to hep someone, but wondering if she is doing the right thing.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/17/insider/covering-rohingya-refugees-myanmar.html
I don’t think maybe they would be quite so hesitant in Houston, but who knows? This is, after all, a case where somebody wants him dead, or at least in danger of it.
She doesn’t know what happened to him – if he lived or died.
But climate change is supposed to be the problem.
Sammy Finkelman (02a146) — 9/18/2017 @ 2:01 pmA crowd forms, Sammeh.
Steve57 (0b1dac) — 9/18/2017 @ 3:32 pmsending a card. hope the parents homeschool this sweet, beautiful little boy so he can survive the tough years until he learns not to give a damn.
peggy (b0a672) — 9/18/2017 @ 4:42 pmOne school rejects the boy, while another one makes their non-standard boy the prom king. You never know which one you are going to get.
Todd (9e54a2) — 9/18/2017 @ 8:26 pmSure are a lot of lurkers on the fringe of discussion. Thanks for bringing them out felipe.
Steve57 (0b1dac) — 9/18/2017 @ 10:45 pmBen burn (b3d5ab) — 9/18/2017 @ 8:01 am
I was never bullied. I got into my share of fights. But I think the bullies saw how eager I was to jump in with my brother, who did not want my help and lived through it.
I’m not tall, SJ. I joined the Navy because I thought at the time it was the only force likely to be used by this country. It was just after the Gulf of Sidra and Operation Preying Mantis. I’m with you, SJ. I hate fighting. I grew up with Navy benefits, as my dad was Coast Guard. So I got to see the horribly burned and broken Vietnam vets. And I signed up.
The whole point of this is I’m not b@d @$$. I’ve known b@d @$$es. They’ll duct tape me to a pier at the low water mark. Unless you’ve been in 500 fights, you’re not b@d ass. And thank Gawd we have them on our side.
Steve57 (0b1dac) — 9/19/2017 @ 7:09 amNot being tall is an advantage in the Navy as you’re less likely to bump your head pouring through a hatch on running your way to your general quarters station.
Steve57 (0b1dac) — 9/19/2017 @ 7:13 amOk, 500 may have been a little off the mark. But you better have a lot of fights under your belt.
Steve57 (0b1dac) — 9/19/2017 @ 7:23 amLike this
felipe (b5e0f4) — 9/19/2017 @ 7:39 amStupid linky mess!
felipe (b5e0f4) — 9/19/2017 @ 7:39 amone more time. Tough.
felipe (b5e0f4) — 9/19/2017 @ 7:41 amMaybe this one? I am having one of those days.
felipe (b5e0f4) — 9/19/2017 @ 7:42 amfelipe, I don’t believe anyone can survive 500 fights. That’s Hollywood. I never knew a SEAL who was in 500 fights. And those are the b#d @$$es.
Steve57 (0b1dac) — 9/19/2017 @ 7:52 amI was having one of those days when I wrote 500. Forgive me.
Steve57 (0b1dac) — 9/19/2017 @ 7:54 am