Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Page 7 Page 8 Page 9 Page 10 Page 11 Page 12 Page 13 Page 14 Page 15 Page 16 Page 17 Page 18 Page 19 Page 20 Page 21 Page 22 Page 23 Page 24 Page 25 Page 26 Page 27 Page 28 Page 29 Page 30 Page 31 Page 32 Page 33 Page 34 Page 35 Page 36 Page 37 Page 38 Page 39 Page 40 Page 41 Page 42 Page 43 Page 44 Page 45 Page 46 Page 47 Page 48 Page 49 Page 50 Page 51 Page 52 Page 53 Page 54 Page 55 Page 56 Page 57 Page 58 Page 59 Page 60 Page 61 Page 62 Page 63 Page 64 Page 65 Page 66 Page 67 Page 68 Page 69 Page 70 Page 71 Page 72 Page 73 Page 74 Page 75 Page 76 Page 77 Page 78 Page 79 Page 80 Page 81 Page 82 Page 83 Page 84Plough Quarterly • Autumn 2016 23 dedicated families, therapists, and special needs teachers who shower their kids with love. Yet because their heroic efforts are made within a system so radically hostile to the weak, there are few happy endings. How could I credibly ask my patient to welcome a child with a disability unless I could also point her to a completely different way of living – one in which her son could flourish? I experienced the truth of Oscar Wilde’s words: “God’s eternal Laws are kind and break the heart of stone. . . . How else but through a broken heart may Lord Christ enter in?” My heart of stone was broken and Christ entered in, in the form of that tiny, twenty- three-week-old boy. Recognizing that my creed of autonomy and success excluded those who could attain neither, I turned from it and eventually returned to the Bruderhof, where I became a member. Today Iris and I still form an extended household with our parents. Living with her, I’ve had ample chances to see how a commu- nity that includes people of all abilities can be a healing balm for those of us who are some- times prone to measure ourselves or others by false standards. Jean Vanier, the founder of the L’Arche community, describes it well: People with intellectual disabilities are not able to assume important roles of power and of efficacy. They are essentially people of the heart. When they meet others they do not have a hidden agenda for power or for success. Their cry, their fundamental cry, is for a relationship, a meeting heart to heart. It is this meeting that awakens them, opens them up to life, and calls them forth to love in great simplicity, freedom, and openness. When those ingrained in a culture of winning and of individual success really meet them, and enter into friendship with them, something amazing and wonderful happens. They too are opened up to love and even to God. They are changed at a very deep level. They are transformed and become more fundamentally human. 3 Such a community can be born whenever and wherever we open our hearts to one another’s joys and sorrows and commit to sharing the load. Just as every human being is able to experience happiness, no human being is exempt from suffering. Even eminent scientists like Richard Dawkins suffer. In community, people like Iris can help the rest of us to bear our load. They can help us become more fundamentally human. So I dream of the day when someone like Iris finds community with Richard Dawkins. I dream of the day when they become friends, two human beings equally endowed with life and love, yet carrying fears, hurts, and imper- fections. I dream of the way they would be able share in each other’s sufferings and joys; of the way both of their burdens could then become lighter. On that day, they together would come a little closer to reducing suffering and increas- ing the sum of happiness.  1. Richard Dawkins, “Abortion and Down Syndrome,” blog post, August 21, 2014 at richarddawkins.net. 2. Brian G. Skotko, Susan P. Levine, and Richard Goldstein, “Having a Son or Daughter with Down Syndrome: Perspec- tives from Mothers and Fathers”; “Having a Brother or Sister with Down Syndrome: Perspectives from Siblings”; and “Self-Perceptions from People with Down Syndrome” in American Journal of Medical Genetics Part A, October 2011, 155A(10):2335–2369. 3. Jean Vanier, acceptance speech for the 2015 Templeton Prize, March 11, 2015. “People with intellectual disabilities are people of the heart.” Jean Vanier