Hope?

I am still trying to process tonight’s experience. I am not sure what I am even thinking. I know that I asked God to open my eyes to new things this week. I sort of wish that I could take that request back after tonight. My heart breaks and aches for what I saw. I sat in the van holding back tears of anger and sorrow.

As we drove I continually had to remind myself that I was in the United States. I so often was transported to Haiti; it all looked the same, the street-side markets, the crowded sidewalks, the loud music, the longing faces.

The part that makes me angry is the “invisible wall”, the street that separates affluent society from Skid Row. It is so apparent, the buildings change, the streets fill with garbage, cardboard beds line the sidewalks and yet those who drive to work from the suburbs never drive two blocks from their office to see the “third world” in their backyard.

All of this swims inside my head, but I don’t know what to do? What can I do? How do I fit into this puzzle? I am so well off, I lack nothing, even traveling in a van I have more that I would ever need. I want to remember these pictures for ever; I don’t want to become a suburb commuter that can’t see past the “invisible wall”.

I am anxious about what tomorrow will bring. I long for a sense of hope in this city. I pray to see joy. I trust that God is doing big things in LA…tomorrow I will be looking even harder.

Laura