1 . When I was seven, my parents explained to me that my sister would be different.     1     But now I realize I see the world in a much different way, all thanks to her.

Throughout our lives, my sister has often got stared at because she has Down syndrome (唐氏综合征), which makes her appear abnormal. There were times when I had to struggle with her.     2     I simply thought. “Everyone else is just staring and that is wrong. They should offer us help instead of staring at us like it’s a circus act (马戏表演).”

I had this in mind when I was traveling alone recently and saw a mother and a son with special needs at the airport gate.     3     They were heading towards the gate of their second departure of the day. The mother was obviously stressed out and trying to keep her son calm while some items were falling out of her un-zipped (拉开拉链的) backpack. The son was pulling strangers’clothes, and she appeared to be embarrassed about it. Then the boy began to scream, looking very scared and confused.

Some people gave the son and mother strange looks, the same kind of looks my sister and I would sometimes get.     4     I tried to help calm the boy down by assuring him he was going to see his grandmother as his mom kept telling him. When the boy finally calmed down, I returned to my seat. At the time, an older gentleman turned around and said to me. “I thought about doing what you did, but I just thought about it. You did it.”

To be honest. I didn’t even really regard what I did as something different or good.     5