_ _ 5

"Hi, I'm Jill235," she said trembling.

"Hi Jill," echoed through the room.

 "…And I'm different." She mumbled.

She sat down on the plastic blue chair which was about half way in the circle.

"Thank you 235, is it ok if I call you 235?" the instructor asked politely. Jill235 nodded.

"Go ahead," said the instructor gesturing to the next person in the circle.

"Hi," he said in an annoyed voice. "I'm Jake205, and I'm different." 

"Very good 205, the first step is admitting it," the instructor said, very pleased.

"Remember, it's not your fault that you are defects.  A manufacturing error is not the fault of the product."

"Hi," the next person began, "I'm Joe305."

"305?" asked the instructor. "You're from the northern regions?" 

Joe305 nodded.

So the meeting went on.

"Who wants to share an experience?" asked the instructor after every one in the circle introduced themselves. A quiet small boy, probably the youngest in the group, raised his hand.

"Yes, Jamie245, tell us when you first knew you were different," the instructor lingered over the last word.

"Well," he said nervously, "during my first year in the skills development facility. I was working on my writing skills with all the other children who were chosen to work on this skill. And the skills development researcher came in and said that we must write about our favorite animal. And I asked why. And he just said that it's on the schedule. And I just asked why. Then before I knew it they took me, gave me new cloths with the number 5 on them,"

He broke down in tears.

"I was clever, I knew what it meant," he said with tears in his eyes. 

"It meant I was a defect, it means that I am an error, a mistake." His voice turned from sad to violet. "And you know what? That's what we all are. Broken toys, a doll without a hand, a toy car without a wheel, scratches on an otherwise perfect painting. That's all we are, broken."

DIENER, SAM. Different. N.d. Photograph. Stuff for Success. Web.