Dear Margo,
Thank you for writing this post. I thought it was quite touching, especially as I can relate with what you have written. In fact, I registered to Wrong Planet just to post a reply. What I find especially interesting is that autistic people might have an inherent niceness in them, and I could relate with that: I also thought other children were mean at times. Even my kindergarten teacher once told my parents that I was an angel, because I always stood up for him when another kid teased him. What you say about compassion is absolutely right, the older I become, the more I am learning about it. In fact I learn to value compassion so much, and think it's a beautiful thing, even though I have this idea that I am not empathetic and the world thinks I'm too cold. It's so cool to think that our minds are border-less, to the point that we kind of learn afterwards that the world around us constructs boxes: we realize that we have to live according to the rules of these boxes; however it is so boring to be always going with the rules of the boxes, and to live freely is indeed to do what's on your mind, whilst forgetting about the boxes. It's like surfing on the ocean waves and going with the flow of your tidal waves.
Sincerely,
Tim