Lessons from a Mud Flap

I was driving down I-85 one day and got a lesson from the most unexpected place – the mud flaps on a semi truck.

Of course, I wasn’t able to snap a picture since I was driving, but the lesson stuck with me nevertheless.

Here’s what the mud flaps said:

Think Safe
Act Safe
Be Safe

That’s not the best example of correct grammar, but the point is made.

If we intend to be a certain way then we have to start with the way we think.
The way we think affects the way we act.
And the way we act determines the way we are.

The trucking company was promoting safety but the lessons go far beyond that concept.

Think Respectfully
Act Respectfully
Be Respectful

Today is Autism Awareness Day. I’m wearing blue on April 2. I have a ton of friends who have autism and they are awesome people. I see their families face challenges day after day and celebrate hard won victories. I’m not sure exactly how I feel about Autism Awareness Day though. It seems like a great thing to see and hear everyone online talking about autism today. But what about tomorrow?

Does awareness give us any responsibility to take another step?

Think back to the mud flaps – if we begin and end with awareness only then no real change is taking place. We may change the way we think today. What about beyond today? Do we change the way we act?

So, let’s wear blue today. Let’s light up buildings with blue lights and celebrate the friendships we have with people who have autism. But let’s take it much further than today.

Let’s change the way we act too.

What does that look like? Well, it can look like offering to help a parent struggling with a child in the middle of the grocery store – instead of just staring. It can look like taking the time to get to know – really know – a person with autism or another type of perceived difference. It can look like setting up a play date for your kid to play with someone else’s kid. Inviting “that kid” to a birthday party. Taking a meal to a family. Cleaning their house or washing their laundry.

What does it not look like? It doesn’t look like pity. It doesn’t look like saying, “Only very special people are given responsibility to care for a very special child.” We are all special and unique in our own ways. We all face different challenges.

And guess what – when we change the way we think and act in these ways, it will change the way we are. Every day.