Christina M. Ward

**Strong themes, not for younger readers…

I hear ya. So much of this world is violent, angry, selfish…when people ALL hurt the same, over the same worries, the same struggles…lies hurt all of us. Betrayal…it bends our hearts backwards every time. We all get so tied up in our own suffering so much  that we forget how miraculously we landed exactly where we are.

I could have been born in war-torn Georgia, caught between peoples with similar faces who fight to eliminate each other… Russia standing by selling commodities and enjoying its power.

Instead I was born white. I had two parents. I always had a bed to sleep in.

I could have been born in the Congo. I could have set out on foot to get firewood (in place of my husband going…I knew the men waited for him in the woods to kill him)…I could have been gang raped and sewn shut like so many women in a place where cruelty is more abundant than food.

I am fortunate. I have.

And today, I remember to be grateful.

****author’s note: This was a stream of consciousness piece that I wrote years ago, but still find relevance in it’s message. I hope it evokes in you some hope for BETTER for the community around you, wherever you are.