One of my friends has ALS, His name is Richard

I could barely understand him at first, and I did not want him to nark me out for smoking weed (it was not legal at the time) so most of the time as I saw him come down the street in his wheelchair I would just close the garage door on him before he could get to my house. I also just wanted to play video games and not talk for like 20-30 mins. I thought to myself *man fuck it is this guy again who wants to talk my ear off I just wanna get high and play games*

He always would come up to anyone outside all my neighbors and just want to talk to them, that is all he wanted, was some words. "hows your day going" "hows your mom" "how are you" "what are you up to"

I feel like such a asshole looking back.
^ He was a complete stranger at the time, Me in my 20`s and him in his 40s or 50s, but that is not excuse I was just being greedy with my time.

The more I got to know Richard the more I started to like him and talk to him, I wanted to talk to him, he told me not to worry about closing the garage on him he understood why I did it. I told him straight up I was just being a douche bag, he insist I was not. (I was)

Anyways we became friends, He taught me a lot. I learn to treat anyone with any mental/physical disorder with respect if not with more respect than the average being as they put up with it and keep moving on.

We started to get into deeper discussions, He knew about Bitcoin and how fiat worked and stuff like that, I could actually relate to him, more than most my friends my age who just want to talk about gambling, sports and shows most the time, that have no clue about what goes on in the real world, even if I try to explain it to them. But Richard understood everything even gave me insight into a lot of things.

He also uses one of those eye trackers to use the computer

His favorite movie is EPIC (it is a cartoon movie I ended up watching it, pretty cool story line behind it)
make sure you use adblock https://ww1.putlockerfree.sc/films/epic-2013/watching.html/

Some things I learned from Richard:

1. Sure I got a fucked up spine but this guy can`t even walk or anything or barely talk. (I need to stop complaining this guy can`t even leave his chair without help)
2. Treat everyone with respect just because someone looks "retarded" or special needs does not mean their brain is. Sometimes you might think some is a "retard" and they are 100 times smarter than you.
3. There is more than meets the eye, never judge a book by its cover but by the content within it.
4. Handicap people are nice to, if not even nicer than most.
5. Give everyone the light of day, give everyone a chance or two or even three, you might make a new friend.
6. I should be honored that someone wants to talk to me, give me their time for free, ask nothing in return but a little of my time.
7. Treat everyone you meet as they may be the CREATOR of everything.
8. This is why we pay tax, to help people like this. (not line the politicians pockets) some of you may be like why should I have to do that, when you get hit by a car you will realize why paying tax is a good thing. it could happen to you!
9. I don`t know how he knew this but he knew I am a loose cannon, trigger happy when it comes to my anger and retaliation, he knew my father and I and my mother and I get pretty fired up at each other. He told me to count in my head backwards 3, 2 ,1 ask myself why am I getting so angry, ask myself why are they getting so mad at me, watch as my anger gets them angrier, I am still working on this. (I rage real hard, I am trying not to)
 
(I know some of these overlap, I was writing them as they come to me)

There was some really strange interactions in our talks and sit downs in my garage. I will say this, I think people with ALS have some super power that we don`t know about, almost like they can pull data from another dimension or something. I would tell you more but you would not believe me anyways.

Thanks for reminding me I need to get in touch with my old friend, I moved recently and never gave him my number. (I don`t use cell phones)

Thank you for sharing your story Mr. Finney
Take care Hal, Cya soon.