why we are more retarded

I have been teaching in a program called Special Populations. We teach kids and adults with lower I.Q.s than most people would request if asked. This is what I have learned so far. These people are generally happier than most people I meet. One 35 yr old man named Michael giggled with glee because: 1- they had blue punch 2- he got to decorate a Halloween cupcake and 3- the origami frog he made could jump really far. I think Michael has the right idea. It seems like it takes more and more for people in our privileged society to feel anything let alone joy. The last time I heard giggles like that was today on the phone when Thorunn age 7 months remembered that she had a piece of bread to gum on her high chair tray. What the people I have been teaching have over most of us is the ability to live in the moment. One lady, Rose wanted a red and green heart face painted on her chin with a L in the middle for her man Leon. She sat in a wheel chair with full make-up, a hat, beads and sparkly slippers (lucky Leon). A 5 yr. old with severe C.P. and a trachea tube smiled and waved his arms when I tried to tickle him with my spider puppet. Finally someone who loves that puppet as much as I do! It seems like we trip ourselves up with over thinking everything and stressing out equally about big problems and little annoyances. After teaching a lesson called "Ants are awesome" that told about the jobs ants can have just like we have jobs and the home they live in like our houses, a autistic 16 year old repeated to himself over and over, " I am not an ant, I do not live in an anthill." Point well taken. Sometimes after a day of being taught by my special population friends, I think to myself, "Man, when you really look at it, we are the ones that are retarded.