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This has been bothering me since just before christmas. The musicmaker told me this story and it made me weep for humanity. I was so angry and raged for the child in the story, raged at the injustice and humiliation.

So the musicmaker as a child went to the house of classmates, invited for dinner. She sat at the dinner table and whilst the family ate curry, our little musicmaker was given a tomato sandwich. I was incredulous when I heard this story.

Musicmaker is fay and sensitive and radiates lovliness. Yes miss, you are lovely. I see her as her adult self and only know her such. I can imagine a tiny, lithe imp with a long fringe falling in her eyes going to the house of classmates. I imagine she is not particularly aware or bothered that she is going here, there or anywhere, she just goes. She is of her own world and intrusions from outside rarely come,she is someone who truly just 'is'. Our little musicmaker in her own gentle world was pulled into cruel reality when instead of what family had for dinner she was given something different.

Not just different though, inferior, substandard a statement. I hated that this had happened to her, how dare those people do this? It has played on my mind for weeks. How can you invite a child into your home and then set her apart, make her feel different and unwelcome? I raged for the little musicmaker through empathy; that notion of difference and people highlighting it so cruelly. It is known that children are cruel through inexperience, selfishness and not knowing the difference. They have to be taught empathy, graciousness and the value of sharing.

What burns most is that this happened with two adults present in a family home, they made this incident occur and that makes me so so sad. But then musicaker turns to me with radiance and beauty, internal and external, smiles shares stories and interests and herself and my faith in humanity is restored.