I have an emotional hangover from today's YouthCare annual luncheon. If you are not familiar with the work of this amazing nonprofit, it's time you remedied that.
I took a 2-hour break from my good job and my comfortable life to hear the stories of three kids that would move me to tears. Abuse, neglect, life on the street, suicide, depression, rape, human trafficking - the things these kids have endured in their short lives pains me. I was physically in pain listening to them speak, and when I left the event, I felt vaguely sick. I couldn't, and can't, do my usual compartmentalizing. I cannot let this go.
Although I have always considered myself to be an empathatic, compassionate person, I don't think this piece of myself had fully evolved until I had Will. As a mother, I seem to *feel* in a different way than before. Today, I heard a mother tell the story of her teenage daughter being prostituted and, basically, enslaved right here in Seattle. Their family could be my family, your family. I cried - and not just a few tears - I CRIED as I listened to her words. What would I do if.... I literally cannot even write it.
As difficult as it is to hear these stories, we MUST hear them. We must listen and learn. We cannot insulate ourselves and our children from the realities of the world. We must teach our children empathy and compassion, and we must show them that we CAN effect change.
And change doesn't come from dreaming.
It comes from doing.
YES! Remember when I warned you that motherhood would make you vulnerable in a whole new way and break your heart a thousand times? This is exactly what I was talking about, because it has been the same for me. I used to vaguely make fun of all the people yelling about "The children! Won't someone think of the children!?" and now I have a whole different view. We each have to figure out what to do with these impulses, and you're so right that the important thing is to do SOMETHING. ANYTHING. JUST START.
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