Something To think About!
"Welcome to Holland" is an essay, written in 1987 by Emily Perl Kingsley,
about having a child with a disability. The piece is given by many organizations
to new parents of children with special-needs.
Here's the entire essay:
When you’re going to have a baby, it’s like planning a fabulous vacation trip
to Italy. You buy a bunch of... guide books and make your wonderful plans. The
Coliseum, the Sistine Chapel, Gondolas. You may learn some handy phrases in
Italian. It’s all very exciting. After several months of eager anticipation, the
day finally arrives. You pack your bags and off you go. Several hours later, the
plane lands. The stewardess comes in and says, “Welcome to Holland!” “Holland?”
you say. “What do you mean, Holland? I signed up for Italy. I’m supposed to be
in Italy. All my life I’ve dreamed of going to Italy.” But there’s been a change
in the flight plan. They’ve landed in Holland and there you must stay. The
important thing is that they haven’t taken you to a horrible, disgusting, filthy
place full of pestilence, famine, and disease. It’s just a different place. So,
you must go out and buy new guidebooks. And you must learn a whole new language.
And you will meet a whole new group of people you would never have met. It’s
just a different place. It’s slower paced than Italy, less flashy than Italy.
But after you’ve been there for a while and you catch your breath, you look
around. You begin to notice that Holland has windmills. Holland has tulips. And
Holland even has Rembrandts. But everyone you know is busy coming and going from
Italy, and they’re all bragging about what a wonderful time they had there. And
for the rest of your life you will say, “Yes, that’s where I was supposed to go.
That’s what I had planned.” And the pain of that experience will never, ever,
ever, go away. The loss of that dream is a very significant loss. But if you
spend your life mourning the fact that you didn’t get to Italy, you may never be
free to enjoy the very special, the very lovely things about Holland.
about having a child with a disability. The piece is given by many organizations
to new parents of children with special-needs.
Here's the entire essay:
When you’re going to have a baby, it’s like planning a fabulous vacation trip
to Italy. You buy a bunch of... guide books and make your wonderful plans. The
Coliseum, the Sistine Chapel, Gondolas. You may learn some handy phrases in
Italian. It’s all very exciting. After several months of eager anticipation, the
day finally arrives. You pack your bags and off you go. Several hours later, the
plane lands. The stewardess comes in and says, “Welcome to Holland!” “Holland?”
you say. “What do you mean, Holland? I signed up for Italy. I’m supposed to be
in Italy. All my life I’ve dreamed of going to Italy.” But there’s been a change
in the flight plan. They’ve landed in Holland and there you must stay. The
important thing is that they haven’t taken you to a horrible, disgusting, filthy
place full of pestilence, famine, and disease. It’s just a different place. So,
you must go out and buy new guidebooks. And you must learn a whole new language.
And you will meet a whole new group of people you would never have met. It’s
just a different place. It’s slower paced than Italy, less flashy than Italy.
But after you’ve been there for a while and you catch your breath, you look
around. You begin to notice that Holland has windmills. Holland has tulips. And
Holland even has Rembrandts. But everyone you know is busy coming and going from
Italy, and they’re all bragging about what a wonderful time they had there. And
for the rest of your life you will say, “Yes, that’s where I was supposed to go.
That’s what I had planned.” And the pain of that experience will never, ever,
ever, go away. The loss of that dream is a very significant loss. But if you
spend your life mourning the fact that you didn’t get to Italy, you may never be
free to enjoy the very special, the very lovely things about Holland.