The Little Things

I arrive at the market and the first face I see is his. The 14 year old kid wiped sweat from his brow and ran over to the car with a smile stretching from ear to ear. He had holes in his shirt and shorts, his shoes were broken, and he had been standing outside for hours washing cars. "Landon! Landon!" he shouts. He then greets me with a big hug.

To most, he's a begger, but to me he is one of the most joyful and humble kids I know. He is not allowed inside the market because he is a street kid, so he stands outside washing cars until dawn only to recieve a dollar a day. I would give him anything if I could but whats best now is to give him a friendship. He needs someone who doesn't look at him disgusted and walk away fast. He needs someone who can be there for him. I can't speak to him that much due to my lack of knowlege for the spanish language, but I love to just sit with him. 

That's the best someone like me can do at the moment, and sometimes that's the best thing to do. At times, building walls or giving out food can be helpful, but in some cases, the best thing is to live out the little things with people. To sit with children, carry little ones on your back, hold a little girls hand, play tic tac toe in the dirt, laugh until you cry with kids who think jumping up and down in a video is the funniest thing ever to occur on this planet, to hear an elderly woman give her story while sitting in her home with all her grandchildren in your lap. Sometimes, those moments will do alot of helping. It will cure alot of pain and can rejuvinate a huge amount of hope. To get it into the Dominicans minds that your not here to just build then leave strengthens alot of trust and love in the bond of your relationship with them. That's how I want to live out my life. I no longer wish to take living for the little things for granted, because I have now met people who can't afford living for anything bigger.