Charles (Chuck) Kensinger

Ideas may be hard for some of us to come up with. I know that is not proper grammar. Give me a break, please. I am watching a movie on the Hallmark Channel. It gave me an idea for this column.

The name of the show is “A Smile as big as the Moon.” It is taken from a book of the same name by Mike Kersjes. This is not fiction. The book is a memoir because the teacher of a special education class wrote it. It is his story of what happened to them.

The football coach teacher is spurred on by one student who wants to go to Space Camp. He is a Down syndrome student. Many of his classmates have other handicaps or problems with discipline or learning disabilities.

At the time, Space Camp did not have a program for special needs students. The story is about how to convince the administration at the camp to take a chance on children that are not considered even normal.  They are usually thought of as difficult to deal with.

Handling problems for these young people is not easy. Frustration, disappointment, and conflict force them to treat each other as friends and equals. One student does not believe his being in this class is fair. He was a normally well-achieving scholar who endured some setbacks in his grades.

Life is not always fair. To make a story work you must have conflicts. Real life makes for some thrilling times even in a movie script or book. This story has protagonists and antagonists. The teacher and the principal have difficulties as do the administration at Space Camp and that same special education teacher.

I have heard of space camp and am glad that they now have programs for all students and adults. I grew up during the race for space and witnessed Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walking on the moon for the first time in 1969. I have always attempted to follow NASA and the others pushing beyond our atmosphere.

My takeaway from this movie is that we should all share a smile with everyone that we meet every day. Kindness has no better technique for being spread than a spontaneous smile.

©Copyright 2022 by Charles Kensinger