Not all gifts come in boxes that clearly indicate the contents. In fact, some boxes are confusing and deceptive.
Take my experience with aspergers syndrome. Both my son and I have quipped that our aspergers has actually been a benefit, a kind of gift, even while it may have appeared to be something close to a disability to the human community.
I think that my aspergers condition may have actually helped me come to appreciate and value the connection, the interdependence I now recognize with other humans. This is far from the common notion that aspergers is characterized by a feeling of alienation or disconnection from the human community. This notion often gets reinforced by acquaintances who consider us nerds or a bit strange. We don’t often fit in.
This certainly may not be true of all aspies, but my distrust of the social norms and loose connections society offers has encouraged me to reach deeper. I seem not to get distracted as easily by the typical ways people interact, but look deeper and find more substantial bonds with other people.
I’ve ignored and not gotten caught up in the typical rules of social engagement most people seem to readily accept. Integration with the rules of social engagement is usually considered part of normal development. It is expected of anyone who apparently inherits the genetic framework that lays the basis for social bonds. Humans are expected by their peers to behave in socially conforming ways.
I’ve not always felt compelled to live in socially conforming ways. In fact, I have lived on the edge of the social framework. I’ve had one foot in, allowing me to function mostly as “normal”, and one foot out, allowing me to feel a certain mistrust of what the other foot was doing.
This ambivalence has come with a certain amount of pain because of the isolation. I’ve not felt compelled to be one of the guys, but I clearly felt the strained ambivalence of the separation. Though it came with a price, it has given me an independent vantage point from which to witness hollow social customs with a critical, disengaged eye. It has allowed me to see more readily that human connections are much more than those offered by social structure. I can better see and feel the interdependence that links me to other humans.
I may be something of a genetic throwback, lacking part of that genetic mechanism that might otherwise compel me into social frameworks. In my case, I think it has truly been a gift that has opened my mind to insights I might not have otherwise had, and it has set me free. At least, it has allowed me to see the path to freedom and deep human connection, and that truly is a gift.