Last Friday I started a book about a young girl from Nepal who is sold into sex-slavery when she is thirteen (it's a fictional story, but the uncomfortable truth is that there are girls like Lakshmi out there today). Her stepfather sells her because they have no food to eat. Last Friday I ate three meals, and then some. I don't feel guilty about those three-and-then-some meals, I just want to emphasize the vast differences that exist inside of our world.

While one beautiful child eats donuts in a coffeeshop, another eats plantains in a thatch-roofed hut. While one person reads a book, another walks ten miles to get a book. One teenage girl buys a new dress, another feeds her child. One man builds a house, while another tears one down. One kid skips school, another dreams of going to school. A person signs up for a relief team, while someone else donates two-hundred dollars to a homeless shelter.

There are so many good and bad things going on at every moment in this universe that it is easy to be confused and overwhelmed by everything. I mean, why do we hike six miles for no other reason than to hike? Why are head coverings worn by some but not by others? Why does one child get shoes when a different child gets shoes and a backpack? Why don't we listen to only the music that represents our culture, worldview, and beliefs instead of having a varied music catalogue? Why do we use crayon instead of paint sometimes? Why do some people drink tea and others drink coffee? What is the point of getting in the water when you are just going to dry out again?

All this stuff is confusing and at times aggravating but when I really think about it I realize that without all this variety, without all this difference, everyone would be an awful lot alike and that would not be cool. What would be really cool, though, is peace.

Funny the Way it is.


Lydia