“Dad, I wish everyone was Down’s Syndrome”

A Dad went to collect his 10 year old Daughter from an after school class at a local sports centre. The huge sports hall had been divided with a net. On one side, children were taking a martial arts lesson. On the other, a group of men with Down’s Syndrome were playing five-a-side football. The sessions finished at exactly the same time and chaos ensued as the children and the men poured out together into the small foyer.

As the Daughter reached her Dad, a great big man who had been playing football cupped her Dad’s face in his enormous hands, stared him directly in the eyes, and planted a full sweaty kiss on his lips.

Without any reference to the kiss, the Dad asked the man, “did you score any goals?” With a big grin the man shrugged his shoulders and said, “I don’t know.” The Dad then asked, “did you win or lose?” Still smiling broadly, the man repeated, “I don’t know.” Finally, the Dad said to the man, “did you enjoy your game”, to which the man replied, “I really enjoyed it, it was fun” before he hugged the Dad and trotted off to the changing rooms.

As the Dad and the Daughter were driving home, the Daughter said to the Dad, “Dad, why did that man kiss you?” The Dad said, “he has a condition called Down’s Syndrome, which means that he looks like a man but his thinking and actions can be like that of a child younger than you are. He kissed me and hugged me because he was happy and was just being friendly.”

After a few moments of silence, the Daughter said, “Dad, I wish everyone was Down’s Syndrome.” “Why?”, asked the Dad. The Daughter replied, “I don’t know if you know but we play football at school at lunchtime and the best players are always on one side and the worst players are always on the other and everyone always ends up falling out and fighting and crying. “But”, she continued, “if everyone was Down’s Syndrome then it wouldn’t matter what side you were on or whether you won or lost, you would just enjoy the game and no one would end up fighting and crying and falling out.”