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What inspired you to write Wonder? About five years ago I took my son's for ice cream, and while my older son went inside to buy us our milk shakes, my younger son and I waited on the bench outside. My younger son was only about 3 years old at the time, and he was in his stroller facing me while I sat on the bench. At a certain point I realized that sitting right next to me was a little girl with a severe craniofacial difference, her friend (or sister), and her mother. When my younger son looked up and saw her, he reacted exactly the way you might think a three-year old would react when seeing something that scared him: he started to cry—pretty loudly, too. I hurriedly tried to push him away in the stroller, not for his sake but to avoid hurting the girl's feelings, and in my haste I caused my older son to spill the shakes, and, well, it was quite a scene—the opposite of what I had hoped for. But as I pushed my younger son’s stroller away I heard the little girls’ mom say, in as sweet and calm a voice as you can imagine: “Okay, guys, I think it’s time to go.” And that just got to me. For the rest of the day, I couldn’t stop thinking about how that scene had played out. It occurred to me that they probably went through something like that dozens of times a day. Hundreds of times. What would that be like? What could I be teaching my children so they could understand how to respond better next time? Is “don’t stare” even the right thing to teach, or is there something deeper? All this stuff was flying through my head, and I realized that I was disappointed in myself because I had missed a good teaching moment for my kids. What I should have done, instead of trying to get my kids away and avoid the situation, was engage the girl and her mother in conversation. If my son cried, so be it: kids cry. But I should have set a better example for him, and shown him there was nothing to fear. Instead I panicked. I simply didn't have the wherewithall to know what to do in that situation. Coincidentally, the song Wonder by Natalie Merchant came on the radio that night, as I was thinking about the ice cream incident, and something about the words to the song just got to me. I started writing Wonder that very night.
Wonder
Doctors have come from distant cities just to see me; Stand over my bed, disbelieving what they're seeing. They say I must be one of the wonders of God's own creation, And as far as you see you can offer no explanation.
Newspapers ask intimate questions, want confessions; They reach into my head to steal the glory of my story. They say I must be one of the wonders of God's own creation, And as far as they see they can offer no explanation.
Ooo, I believe: Fate smiled at Destiny, Laughed as she came to my cradle: "Know this child will be able," Laughed as my body she lifted, "Know this child will be gifted With love, with patience, and with faith. She'll make her way; she'll make her way."
People see me; I'm a challenge to your balance; I'm over your heads; how I confound you and astound you to know I must be one of the wonders of God's own creation; And as far as you see you can offer me no explanation.
Ooo, I believe: Fate smiled at Destiny, Laughed as she came to my cradle: "Know this child will be able," Laughed as she came to my mother, "Know this child will not suffer," Laughed as my body she lifted, "Know this child will be gifted With love, with patience, and with faith. She'll make her way; she'll make her way."
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