Rainbow Omega

I just got back from being away at this place called Rainbow Omega in Alabama. Rainbow Omega is a home for adults with disabilities, such as Down Syndrome or Parkinson’s. I got to spend 4 days with these incredible residents and just become their close friends and be connected to them.

These people feel so much love in their hearts, it’s insane. I had never felt more comfortable around a group of people, and the group that I was with all cried when we said our goodbyes. I formed incredible bonds that I’ll never forget.

Around this time, a man named Markiplier posted a video called “Please Be Good to Each Other”, which I watched after I got to the hotel where we were staying. It was quite a coincidence, considering what I was doing at the time, but his words really stuck out to me and I had a conversation about it with my chaperone.

“The good you do, and the good you do to the world, really makes a difference.”

Sitting there, we had a discussion about what he meant by that. I took it to heart and used it that week, because he’s absolutely right.

This trip was so moving. I didn’t feel pity for these people, because they were happy. They were content and loving where they were, and were just being human.

We’re so quick to judge sometimes, you know? We see a disabled person in public and we don’t want to go near them because they make us “uncomfortable”, and we’re not alone in this matter. Society has deemed this not “normal” to us, and we don’t see it as such.

Being there though, I forgot that they had a disability. I got to sit and blow bubbles, have chats, learn about cars, and laugh with these amazing people that I have come to cherish and love.

Mark was absolutely right when he said that we can make a difference. I changed those peoples lives by sitting and listening, coming to visit, hugging them, and telling them I loved them. Really though, they changed me too. They opened my eyes to the world, and made me feel more loved than I ever did in the real world.

As my friend Jed put it, “It seems as this place should be the real world.”

Please be kind to other people. Hate and terror has been going in circles in the world recently, and it’s heartbreaking.

Doing good doesn’t just make a difference in the world, it makes a difference in you, too.