One of the little pleasures that many of us have in life is getting out to enjoy a meal. That is what Kionna Montazeri was doing when she was at Olive Garden with her eight-year-old daughter and her disabled husband, Dusty. It was an enjoyable evening that they both needed but when they got back in their car, they saw something that shook them to the core.
There was a yellow note attached to the car windshield and the misjudgment on the note was beyond words. The person who wrote the note assumed that there wasn’t anyone in the family who was disabled. In other words, they were accusing the family of abusing the disabled parking spot where they had parked their vehicle. It wasn’t just a matter of a misjudgment, it was a rude comment that really shocked them.
The note read, “Disabled? No. Just your big fat asses.”
It really is a horrible thing to write something like that and to think that you have the right to post it to somebody’s car. The author obviously doesn’t know that not every disability is visible immediately. That isn’t even to mention the fact that it’s out of line to be that rude.
Kionna and Dusty tried to get to the note before their daughter saw it, but she was too quick. She then started to wonder why a stranger would say something so horrible. Kionna decided that she would take the issue and teach her daughter a valuable lesson in the process on kindness. What she did went viral.
“To the person/persons that left this note on my car at the Olive Garden on Memorial in OKC today, I’d like to say thank you!”
“Your misguided and uninformed attempt to shame me and my family provided an opportunity to teach my 8-year-old daughter a lesson. Upon seeing this note, she said ‘Mom, why would someone do that? They don’t even know us.’
“This coming from a little girl who’s daddy will never get to walk her down the aisle, because, he is in fact disabled. So we explained to her that some people just have hate in their hearts. We further explained how your actions can deeply affect others around you, and how she should always be conscious of others feelings.
“I explained that she was right. These people didn’t know us. They didn’t know that my husband has Muscular Dystrophy and has struggled with it his entire life. They didn’t know that even though his doctors advised him to go into a wheelchair years ago, he refused, and instead, remained on his own two feet until he finally fell for the last time, blowing out both knees and breaking an ankle. They didn’t understand that we’ve spent the last 2 years learning to adjust to a life in which he can’t even stand up to get in and out of a car.
“They didn’t see that I’ve torn my rotator cuff lifting on him to assist him in his transitions. They have no idea that he already lives in constant pain, and that their hurtful words would only add to that. They didn’t know that the reason that he has a belly is because there are no stomach muscles left to hold everything in tight.
“They didn’t know that our 8 year old already struggles to understand why her daddy can’t run and play with her the way other daddies do. They just didn’t know. And because they didn’t know, they allowed the hate in their hearts to get the better of them.
“So again, I’d just like to say Thank You.
“Your ignorance provided a wonderful opportunity for me and my husband, who have struggled and survived and come out stronger in the last couple of years, to not only teach our daughter a valuable lesson, but provided another opportunity for us to overcome and to be thankful for the blessings that continue to come our way!”
Kionna posted this on Facebook in the hopes that it would be visible to anyone who had posted the note. It may just make them think about their actions. Perhaps they won’t be so quick to judge others in the future.