As we scrolled movies to watch last night, we landed on the movie Soul. Cooper has declared it to be in his top 10 of all time, and none of us minded watching it again. Of course as the topics of life, death, and dying before you’ve fulfilled your purpose are presented, I was a sobbing crybaby, but that’s not what I want to share.
There is a scene that takes place in the ethereal in which Joe (the main character, who has died and is now a soul) watches the unborn souls get their personalities before being sent down to Earth. They are assigned labels like “snarky” and “cynical” and “agreeable,” etc. As this scene plays out, Cooper says, “I wonder where the autism personality is?”
“I wonder where the autism personality is?”
He recognized that people were receiving their character traits. And he wondered how he fit in. Where were “his” kind of people?
God says our identity is strongest when we first embrace that we are created in His image. We weren’t created with the end goal of Earth as our forever home, yet while here, we crave the relationships and companionship that other humans offer. We need one another to get through this piece of eternity. We need others who embrace who we are, while guiding us to embrace who God created us to be.
I know Cooper wishes that elements of his autism weren’t part of who he is. He has expressed that. It isn’t different from any of us wishing we could change elements of ourselves. How we handle those desires to be different matters. If we take those things to God in prayer, He can give us wisdom how to use our struggles to grow closer to Him.
We are unique. We are similar.
Kimberly Soesbee 