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He was 9—in a Sunday school class of 8-year-olds. Eight-year-olds can be cruel. The third-graders did not welcome Philip to their group. Not just because he was older. He was “different. He suffered from Down’s syndrome and its obvious manifestations: facial characteristics, slow responses, symptoms of retardation. One Sunday after Easter the Sunday school teacher gathered some of those plastic eggs that pull apart in the middle—the kind in which some ladies’ pantyhose are packaged. The Sunday school teacher gave one of these plastic eggs to each child. On that beautiful spring day each child was to go outdoors and discover for himself some symbol of “new life and place that symbolic seed or leaf or whatever inside his egg. They would then open their eggs one by one, and each youngster would explain how his find was a symbol of “new life. So … The youngsters gathered 'round on the appointed day and put their eggs on a table, and the teacher began to open them. One child had found a flower. All the children “oohed and “aahed at the lovely symbol of new life. In another was a butterfly. “Beautiful, the girls said. And it’s not easy for an 8-year-old to say “beautiful. Another egg was opened to reveal a rock. Some of the children laughed. “That’s crazy! one said. “How’s a rock supposed to be like a ‘new life’? | 
