Extra Credit: Kim Peeks

Today I went to an assembly where Kim Peeks spoke, accompanied by his father. It was an amazing experience to see him in person and to hear what he had to say. At first glance, Kim Peeks did in fact appear mentally retarded. With his thick glasses and playful antics, he seemed almost like a child. However, when words came out of his mouth and he enlightened the audience with his philosophies and stories, I felt mentally retarded! He blew my mind, and I'm assuming the audience's as well.
Here are some interesting facts about Kim Peeks. At nine months he was diagnosed as mentally retarded due to the fact that the two lobes in his brain had formed together. At the age of three, he utilized the dictionary, and at 14 he graduated high school. He can play 85% of all classical music on the piano that he heard between ages 3 and 6-1/2 perfectly from memory. Until the movie "Rain Man," he was severely mentally retarded. Then, Dustin Hoffman told his father to share him with the world. And he did just that. Kim Peeks has touched several lives with his wit, charm and knowledge.
I noticed that he played with the microphone and covered his face a lot, like a child would. He also rarely spoke directly into the microphone; his father had to tell him to do so. He groaned a lot and interupted his father while he was speaking.
Kim's greatest words today were "Everybody's different."