The boy was singing with his eyes closed so he didn’t see anything and still he hit every note, his tears kept coming. He knew what it was like to be called geek or freak, how it was to never smile, how it was to cry at night, how it was to be chosen last… he knew it all. Tina could feel her son’s pain, his struggle. She wanted to hold him but she didn’t want to disturb him and frankly, it seemed liked she couldn’t move from her place.

Don’t laugh at me
Don’t call me names
Don’t get your pleasure from my pain
In God’s eyes we’re all the same
Someday we’ll all have perfect wings
Don’t laugh at me

That was all he wanted. That people wouldn’t laugh at him, call him names, he wanted to be the same as everyone else. Tina was now crying silently. It was hard to know your kid was in emotional and psychic pain and you couldn’t do more than you were already doing. You could only try to be a safe harbor, where he could be himself.

I’m the cripple on the corner
You’ve passed me on the street
And I wouldn’t be out here beggin’
If I had enough to eat
And don’t think I don’t notice
That our eyes never meet

I lost my wife and little boy when
Someone cross that yellow line
The day we laid them in the ground
Is the day I lost my mind
And right now I’m down to holdin’ 
This little cardboard sign…so

Mario could in some way relate to this. In the eyes of the world he was a cripple, he was ‘not normal’. He was begging for some friendship, for some love even but people chose to ignore him. When he ‘lost’ his female self, he didn’t lose his mind but it seemed as if the world around him did. It freaked out. Tina was amazed by how good he sounded. How passionate and full his voice was. Mario’s tears were still trickling down his cheeks, landing on his t-shirt.

Don’t laugh at me
Don’t call me names
Don’t get your pleasure from my pain
In God’s eyes we’re all the same
Someday we’ll all have perfect wings
Don’t laugh at me

I’m fat, I’m thin, I’m short, I’m tall
I’m deaf, I’m blind, hey, aren’t we all

Wasn’t everyone a little weird? Wasn’t everyone ‘not normal’? If you looked underneath the surface of people, you could see their shortcomings and insecurities. However, it were the ones whose shortcomings were the most noticeable who were being picked on and bullied.

Don’t laugh at me
Don’t call me names
Don’t get your pleasure from my pain
In God’s eyes we’re all the same
Someday we’ll all have perfect wings
Don’t laugh at me

Mario played his last note and kept his eyes closed until the last note died before he opened them and looked at his mother, looking proud and sad at the same time.

“Mom? How… How long have you been standing there?” Mario asked.

“Long enough. Oh, baby, you sound so good. Where did you learn that?’ Tina asked.

“I saw Justine play it and I just copied it…” He said, laid his friend’s guitar to the side and dried his tears.

Tina walked over and sat next to her son. “You are really good, baby boy.”

“Thanks Mom. I think I’m going to ask Justine to teach me a little.” He said with a smile.

“Yes, I think you’ll enjoy that.” Tina said.

——–