Wonder: My Thoughts

Between the movie Wonder and the 20/20 documentary Wonder Boy, I cried buckets. 

Wonder is based on a book by R.J. Palacio who wrote it after she felt disgusted about the behavior she displayed (or didn’t display) when confronted with a situation at an ice cream shop in New York involving a little girl whose face was so deformed that her own baby cried at the sight. The 20/20 documentary on the other hand is about a boy born with Treacher Collins, an autosomal recessive genetic condition that is characterized by craniofacial deformities. 

The story and the struggles of the Pullman family depicted in the book/movie, which was written out of the author’s imagination, bore such a stark resemblance to the Newman family shown on the documentary that it’s almost sacrilegious to call it a coincidence. It’s nothing short of divine orchestration, if you ask me. It was both fascinating and awe-inspiring to see this unfold. It was almost like a nod from God to the Newman family. As if God was saying, “I see. I know. I feel. And I got your back.”

Having closely worked with families who have children with special needs, I can say that it’s not an easy life. It’s fraught with frustrations stemming from medical bills, demands on ones time and energy, and anxieties about the future. I daresay there are silver linings but they may be few and far between. And let’s not forget about the challenges that the children themselves face. 

In the movie, Auggie, had to deal with the harshest and most unforgiving of worlds, middle school. The real life Auggie, Nathaniel, didn’t have it as bad because of his parents foresight and proactiveness. I vaguely remember my time in that stage of life. It was pleasant for the most part, but only because I was able to find a niche and didn’t have to go over the hurdles that kids like Nathaniel had to jump over to find his.

This is a film that every man, woman, and child should watch; and include the documentary while you’re at it. Because everyone needs to understand that being kind is more important than being right.