Louis was a misunderstood human being who
was quite different from everyone else. He looked, walked and acted different
from the rest of the human population.
His family thought he was mentally handicapped. He was born in a time when
people did not understand about diseases like they do today. He was labeled “terrible” and “cold” because he lived in his own silent world. The daily verbal
accusations flied like bullets piercing Louis deeply bringing him pain and
discomfort. Who’d know it? He didn’t know how to respond to the attacks. No one
knew the inner workings of Louis’s mind, not even Louis, simply because he did
not have the ability to communicate to the outside world. Louis had what today is
called “autism”.
Life
was not easy for Louis Cornwell, here was a human being trapped in his body who
could not reach out; he lived a lonely, isolated existence. If he hurt, loved
or felt any of the many emotions other people felt no one would know, He could
not communicate because his brain would not allow him to. He would try to talk
with his family or other people but he never could. He was gangly teen well
over six feet tall, with long legs and long arms, ungraceful in his movements
and so awkward in social settings. He
would freely express his bodily functions anywhere at any time. He could not
comprehend that you did those types of personal things in private not public.
People would pretend like he did not exist
in public outings because they were so ashamed of his unusual behaviors. His
classmates would slap him and kick him. Throwing him to the ground like a piece
of wadded up trash in public. They treated him like some kind of a freak who
didn’t belong with the rest of the “normal” population. One time a young lady alerted a nearby policeman
screaming “Get this cold, terrible animal away from me he’s
bothering me and touching me in the wrong places.” Louis was just being Louis and doing nothing
to endanger the young woman; but the policeman brutalized him right there on
the street and arrested him for being a public “pervert”.
He ushered him to jail then proceeded to
beat him to within an inch of his life. His excuse Louis molested that young
lady on the street and he has to pay for it. Louis was taken to the hospital for
emergency care and he almost died from his injuries. Nevertheless, when Louis’s
family rushed to the hospital and interrogated the police about the beating the
police had a fabricated excuse all ready.
Their excuse: He attacked the arresting officer and he had to “defend”
himself so Louis would not jeopardize his life. Louis was incapable of violence
he didn’t even know how to defend himself. The time Louis was born in these
types of abuses were tolerated because there was no public awareness about the
plight of people like Louis.
Louis recovered from his injuries never
realizing what had happened to him because of his “mental illness”. He had no
advocates in his young life and seemed destined to be treated like an animal
the rest of his life. Fortunately, the Lord hadn’t forgotten Louis and sent one
of Louis’s teachers into his life while he was recovering from his beating in
the hospital. The young man’s presence calmed Louis and a very special bond
developed between them. The teacher treated Louis like a human being for the
first time in Louis’s life. Eventually, the young man taught Louis how to
communicate by writing. The young man spent hours reading the bible to Louis,
through the reading, Jesus, opened Louis’s heart to his love. Louis came to know the unconditional love of
Jesus Christ. The Lord was the only One who could break into Louis’s life and
what a breakthrough He made!
“I praise you
because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know
that full well.” Psalm149:14
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