Brother

Yesterday, Beth shared a video on  facebook titled "My Brother Hyrum" which was recently placed on mormonchannel.org. She said: "This reminds me of my nephews. Everybody deserves to feel love, especially my nephew Evan and his little brother."
I then watched the movie and promptly cried.
It's a beautiful video narrated by the voice of a little sister whose brother, Hyrum, has autism. But it starts out with her saying that she loves her brother, he is her best friend and shares all of the things that make him like other children. Then she mentions some of the things that make him different. Some of the lines that touched me most were: "Autism means you think things different. It doesn't make you bad, it just makes you different." "Sometimes kids tease my brother because they don't understand him. I wish people knew my brother like I do." "Dad says that one day Hyrum will be able to talk just like me and tell me how he feels all the time." And then a quote from President Monson: "True love can alter human lives and change human nature. I plead with you to have the courage to refrain from judging and criticizing those around you as well as the courage to make certain everyone is included and feels loved and valued."
It was powerful to say the least. Tonight we actually had family home evening(it doesn't happen very often so it too made an impact). Oliver shared the story of Jesus feeding the 5000. We talked a little about what a miracle is that with just a little bread and a few fish that were offered willingly, so many people were able to be fed. We also talked about the boy who not only shared, but made an amazing impact to be mentioned. He stepped up and offered what he had when others either didn't have anything to offer or didn't offer what they had. He was an example of generosity and kindness. I decided that I wanted to show this video to Ryan because they both have a similarity. Not only is Ryan like the little girl, but there were messages that I knew we'd never discussed with him before. Things like how Evan will be able to share things with us when our bodies are made perfect and everything is working the way it should. How we sometimes focus too much on the bad things that Evan does instead of the things that he is great at or that make him just like other kids. We talked about all that and I hope Ryan understood a little.
What I didn't share was the connection of the two stories. Just like the boy with the bread and the fish, this little girl was being generous and kind in sharing a message and being an example to the world. I hope Ryan can be like that. I hope he can understand how much Evan loves him and that he can not only love Evan back, but he can be an example to his friends and others who meet Evan.