i am sam

Sam Dawson has the mental capacity of a 7-year-old. He works at a Starbucks and is obsessed with the Beatles. He has a daughter with a homeless woman; she abandons them as soon as they leave the hospital. He names his daughter Lucy Diamond (after the Beatles song), and raises her. But as she reaches age 7 herself, Sam's limitations start to become a problem at school; she's intentionally holding back to avoid looking smarter than him. The authorities take her away, and Sam shames high-priced lawyer Rita Harrison into taking his case pro bono. In the process, he teaches her a great deal about love, and whether it's really all you need. What would you do once you find the one thing that you were created for? You may not want that thing, or you may totally love it, but once you are sure it was meant for you, wouldn’t you feel a certain possession of it, a certain knowledge that you have what it takes to excel in it? If you found your purpose in life, if you found the one thing that makes you feel you belong in this world, would you ever let it go? How far would you go to keep it, and for what cost would you ever give it up?

There are people who are made to feel that they can never belong; there are people who in their hearts so want to give you an honest fight for your niche, but even that is no good. Nothing in this world is ever fair. And how can you even fight if you are Sam Dawson, mentally handicapped, almost never trusted, almost never loved, only humored once in a while by people who thought he was no good for them? What a very uphill battle just to have the right to live, what a seemingly pointless struggle. But it isn’t, and what is the point?

Sam was born, and he has to remain alive, and not just to exist and eat and sleep, no, but to live with the true quality of living. To be of use to the human race, bring forth something that no one else can ever give the world but him. To live his purpose so that when he ceases living it won’t be as if he