Advance #13: A Very Special Boy

How a culture treats its most vulnerable speaks volumes about it.

In ancient Rome, the mentally befeebled were made the unwilling subjects of cruel, humiliating bloodsport.

In the early days of our nation, these ersatz citizens were forced to endure isolated lives in dank, sexless institutions.

And not until the1970s were our schools and workplaces beginning to meaningfully accommodate the "less unchallenged" among us.

So imagine the pride I felt when I learned that a plucky little moppet---one who might have, in a darker time, served as a shoeless oarsman working for 11 cents a week and nourished on a diet of wild dewberries and rainwater--had become a bona fide pop sensation.

There was once a day when bumping John Forsythe's death from a featured position on the cover of People would have been unthinkable.  That day has passed. 

And somewhere, another special someone is smiling.

Very Truly Yours,
Denny DelVecchio