She just returned from Ecuador on Sunday night. She was there for 10 days working as a camp counsellor (one of her favourite things to do) in a camp for children who regularly reside in a squatters village near the city of Playas in southern Ecuador.
She drove me to work this morning and was telling me about her week and about some of the amazing things she experienced. She began to tell me about saying goodbye and about how difficult that was for her and for others. She said that she developed a deep friendship with another young woman her age over the time she was there and how hard it was for her to leave. She then made a comment about being accepted there and not here.
I began to think about how much that must hurt her. I have learned that I cannot protect my children(even though they are both adults now) from the hurts that people dispense upon them. I cannot change the behaviour of others, I can only try to lead by example and "not return evil for evil" as I have noted about in a previous post about retribution.
It's really tough when children of any age hurt. The realization that sometimes life stinks and people are mean spirited is difficult to swallow particularly when they hide behind the veneer of niceness. Life has many lessons, sometimes we are placed on the hard road to experience the painful side of things. As some wag noted recently, "sometimes you're the fly and sometimes you're the windshield".
When faced with this type of adversity, I hope and pray that my family will respond in the manner that we have been taught to. The "golden rule" has much to say about how we ought to treat others and the responsibility for fair treatment begins with us. In the midst of difficulty a glimmer of "hope" was there for my daughter in the embodiment of an Ecuadorean woman who saw her for who she really is and that's what really matters isn't it? Being real!
Happy Tuesday everyone!
1 comment:
Great post! Being real is the only way to live! Praying for you guys.
Post a Comment