The Lovers in my Life

The fantastic place I live in. The folks I live with are (names changed to protect the fantastic) Hank, Ralph, Rudy, Lisa, and John. My home is L'Arche, an intentional community for people with and without developmental disabilities. The folks with DD are our core members. They are the core of our community, and from them we learn love, welcome, celebration, forgiveness, compassion and directness. The folks without a developmental disabilities (but not without disabilities) are called Assistants. So that is who John and I are. L'Arche is unlike a group home in that it's purpose is to intentionally build home and family to ensure that ALL involved have the chance to reach their highest potential, self whatever. Mr. Tolstoy said that to love God is to love the highest possible potential in all things. That means we have to see the person's highest potential hiding in their deepest self. We have to have faith that each person can reach their highest potential, and we have faith that the way to that is confidence, which is only reached through the ability to love and be Loved. That means we can't look at each person through their disability. We can't group people together and view them as a group, we have to look at and LOVE each, INDIVIDUAL person. We have to get to know them, be with them, BE with them, and talk with them. We have to know them, and love them, and teach them, and learn from them. We have to share with them, do with them, be a part of their life, and share a part of our lives with them. The core members are there for us, and we are there for them, and the core members are there for eachother and us assistatns are there for eachother. We all have our weaknesses and our strengths, and we must love and respect those strengths and weakness. when we realise we have both, and realise which particular strengths and weaknesses we uniquely have, and others uniquealy have we realise we are ONE body and we need eachother to live and grow, and love. we can exist on our own maybe for a tiny bit but we need others to really LIVe.