Processing....

We watched a movie on Monday, as a part of our class, called La Vendora de las Rosas (The Rose Seller). It portrayed 3 days of a 14 yr old Venezuelan girl's life. 75% or more of the time, she and her friends, who did not live at home with their families, were totally stoned from sniffing glue. It was sick. I had to leave the room at one point- the reaction I was having to the moving is one that I've never had to that degree before- I felt smothered, like I needed to go outside to see the sunshine and breath fresh air. I'm not really sure what that says about me.... still processing. At this point, I know that it's not just a movie, but a portrayal of reality for many. And it just seems so so hopeless, and I and my "I want to fix this" mentality can't fix it, which I think makes me feel hopeless, smothered, confined, confused...

This reality was brought to life the next day, too, when Robbie (one of the staff at Dry Bones, an amazing man of God who I just love) was talking with another intern about he and his wife's trip to Guatemala where they found most of the young adults, and plenty of kids and older adults, sniff paint thinner all day and "were stoned out of their minds all the time." Gross. This is the best that life has to offer them? I'm disgusted and don't know exactly what to do with this feeling. Sorry for the bummer blog, but this is what I'm processing. I'm gonna go running now....

Ciao