Top: A photo of a younger me in my school uniform taken for the class album. In Part 1 of this two-part episode series I talk about lives changed forever. An experience that almost broke a friendship between two children and which never remained as it had been. It is a story about a disabled boy who realised that, in the eyes of society, his impairment rendered him of less value and less human. It’s a story about how media can distort reality and how society can exclude people simply because it deems them “less fortunate” and unequal. It is about the wrong conclusions we make as adults on simple friendships between disabled and non-disabled children. It’s about a prize which has all the good intentions but which leads to a hell of feeling betrayed, excluded and invalidated as a boy. It’s about the negative implications of how our adult world can do more harm than good by acting like judge and jury on the lives of children. It’s also about how modern society still doesn’t get what the real meaning of charity and compassion but appears to reaffirm that inequality is natural are inevitable. As long as it sells, it’s ok it seems. Would we reward any other friendship if it’s between other children who are non-disabled? Why do we have to set a price on kindness? Isn’t virtue its own reward? This is my story. More Info: You can find a blog entry on this subject on both my blog at Gordon’s D-Zone (http://gdzone.gordonGD.com) or at ZoneMind (http://www.ZoneMind.com). Email: ZoneMind.starchild@gmail.com #inclusion, #disability, prize for kindness, childhood, friendships, #charity, #compassion, #value, #virtue, #Malta ) To listen to Part 2 of this episode, kindly visit: http://audioboo.fm/boos/1469703-is-virtue-its-own-reward-part-2