Written by Reserve General, Doron Almog, at the occasion of the naming of a rehabilitation village in his son's name, Eran Almog z"l, "Nachalat Eran". The main idea of the text relates to the coping of parents with children with special needs - the Ten Stage Test.
The first test was the Expectations Crisis Test. John Lenon said that life is what happens to you when you make different plans. A number of months after his birth it became known to us that Eran would suffer all of his life from a combination of retardation and autism. We had expected that he would be more successful than us. That he would make it farther. Everything fell apart at once. No Bar Mitzva, no wedding, no children, and no college degrees. This won't be the child that we can be proud of his accomplishments. There were those who suggested not taking him home. Leave him alone, like Eran, my brother, who bled to death for long hours in the Yom Kippur War by the burning tank. And I swore that I would never leave a bleeding soldier behind. And we all swore that Eran, our son, we wouldn't abandon.
The second and biggest test of all was the Test of Love. What is love? Is it a longing for something desired? We decided to love Eran. We decided that love is unlimited and unconditional giving. A difficult test, minute after minute. I'm the father of a 23-year-old youth who still travels with a diaper in the car. A father that for 23 years has taken care of his son as if he's never ceased being a baby. Love that is a deep obligation, never ending worry and inexhaustible action.
The third test was the Test of Embarrassment. How do say that you have a retarded child? How do you deal with prejudice and stereotypes? A society that's embarrassed of handicapped people is a society that lacks human sensitivity. They're flesh and blood like us and every one of us can find himself hurt in way that leaves him completely reliant on the kindness of others. We decided never to be embarrassed by Eran. To give him everything we can and to show ourselves out in the open with him any time we want. We decided to talk about him and his world. This day, the time that Eran became a national symbol is a day of maturity. A day of victory for sensitivity over callousness. A big crack in the wall of stereotypes and prejudices against the world of retarded people in society. The journey is still long. The wall of stereotypes and prejudices still stands strong. The opening that Eran made in the wall needs to be widened and the wall needs to be shattered to pieces.
The fourth test was the Test of Routine Tasks. To make sure that he wouldn't be discriminated against, that he would receive appropriate conditions for his situation. To fight that the school for special education would open each year on the 1st of September. That there would be an appropriate learning program. That they would challenge him. That there would be appropriate medical treatment. That he should be clean, washed, dressed, and orderly. That the shoes shouldn't be too tight. That there should be socks without holes. That there should be constant supervision. That they shouldn't hit him. That they shouldn't harm him. He won't say anything anyway, he won't complain. The most he'll do is smile and express thanks.
The fifth test was to challenge him. To learn how to break through the limits of ability. How to help him acquire new abilities. New habits. It took three years to teach him to drink by himself. And a similar amount of time to teach him to eat by himself. Clumsy eating. With just a spoon and special plate. But by himself. To teach him to play with a ball. To teach him to swim. To teach him to set the table. Not to stop for a moment to challenge him, because challenging him is to challenge ourselves. To stop challenging him to turn ourselves into more limited, more entrenched into our narrow world. And he's always saying like, "Dad, don't be autistic like me. Think, act, do, and don't stand in place. Move forward. Try to learn about my feelings. My world. My problems. Don't channel yourself to a world of personal achievements and ego glorification. Because if the ego will be in the center of your world, I'll be in the street. Don't stop thinking for a moment of my existence. Don't stop for a moment the great effort to make for us a better future."
The sixth test was the Test of Functionality. Non-stop accommodation of resources and methods to progress, aid, and provide enjoyment. To create stimulation, through water, computers, music, television, animals, stimulation rooms - combinations of lights, sounds, soft mattresses and music. Development of special computer programs. Special bicycles, special plates. Special utensils. Special instruments.
The seventh test was the Test of Aesthetics. That everything in the area should be well taken cared of and adorned. That there should be growth. There should be a garden. There should be a connection between colors, shapes, furniture, house items, and pictures. That everything should have taste. That everything should project warmth and love, and softness and comfort. As if we're talking about the house of our dreams. Because they're the purest of our children. Those who didn't harm a person. Those who didn't do anything bad to another. And together with this, they're also the weakest. Those who the freedom of choice was taken from them. Those who never went alone on a trip in India or South America, or in any other place. Hostages of the trait of kindness that's in us.
The eighth test was the Test of Action. To unite forces and to do every day more and more for them. Small actions and big actions. The test of love is in action. Action that has thought behind it. Getting into details. Action of joy. Action that joins and integrates the world of the most handicapped with the world of the healthy and strong. Action that joins and integrates between all of the ends of the social spectrum. Ultra-orthodox and non-religious, Jews and Muslims, native Israelis and those born abroad, from poor countries and wealthy countries, the rich and the poor, light-skinned and dark-skinned. Great action of establishing a village which there's none like it in the entire world. A village that will provide a livelihood to hundreds of people in the south of Israel. A village that will develop knowledge and learning methods, occupation, and medical treatment. A village that will create a community of the most handicapped people that society practically gave up on them. A village that will create an future of hope and source of pride. A village that from today will be called by the name "Nachalat Eran".
The ninth test was the Test of a Breakthrough in Consciousness. To get to all ends of the world and to tell Eran's story. Again and again, and again and again, tirelessly. In front of Jews and Christians. In synagogues, auditoriums, churches, clubs, interviews, articles, holidays, and special events. Arousing hope in parents of handicapped children whose world has been destroyed around them. Arousing action, to do. To speak again and again on human sensitivity necessary to raise a child from preschool age. To create a better society, more tolerant, more human. A society that has in it volunteering and action for the weak. A society that remembers that the independence of the human race is measured in relation to its weakest.
And the tenth and most difficult test is to do all this without Eran. To come each time to the village, to see Eran's bicycle standing alone, to see the room, the ball, the bed, the clothes. To know that all this he wanted but he didn't merit making it. And nevertheless to continue and to do, to do, to do because now it's not just for him, now it's really for everyone, and this is really what he wanted, that we should act for everyone. We should never leave them behind, bleeding.