ordinary

i still have haiti pumping through my heart.  as long as i live it will never leave me.  it's the important part about going, i believe.  being connected to a place and its people.  in fact, my facebook was bouncing with haitian wedding pictures all.  day.  long.  i love the balance of life in a third world country.  so much beauty sitting on the outskirts of things that are hard to stomach.  so much gut and gumption of humanity you see there.  so much keep on, keepin on.  we are all ordinary yet delicate, like the concrete flowers in haiti.  we persevere and persist despite the conditions.

in the hallway at school today i listened to a particular child read me her big words.  she giggled at the silliness in the stories.  she sounded things out.  she whizzed through her sight words.  twice her sister walked by us, glancing as she passed.  i saw big tears in her eyes, and i know why.  she is a neighbor in our small town fishbowl.  i find dichotomy in the two girls.  one too young to have a care in the world, the other too young to hold such a heavy burden.

i go worlds away to offer love and kindness, but find it painful to see what is going on in my own backyard.  i see a beautiful life on the brink of devastation and i don't know how to help.  i have no answers.  it is times like these, be it a small town or a third world country, i am reminded that i am just one ordinary person.  one ordinary person who is sometimes of comfort, and other times helpless.  an ordinary person who believes going can mean across the street.  an ordinary person hoping that concrete flowers persevere and persist in colorado, as they do in haiti.