beautiful things

Romeo called last night to tell me about his day. He was so excited, and I could hear it in his voice. It's always adorable when he gets like that... he turns into a 5 year old who just got his first hit at a t-ball game. It really is cute.
Anyway, the boys and he have become a bit more productive with their time. Down the road a few miles, they venture to a local orphanage. Dozens of children of all ages are reside there, and are BEYOND excited when the soldiers come to visit. They play soccer and run around spend time with these children who now not only don't have families, but now also don't have a country or government to support them.
Romeo says that the children, especially his new friend Melvin, just make all of the stress of being there worth it. They don't pester the men for water. They don't curse them off or make inappropriate gestures when there just isn't food to give. They hug and scream with excitement and run and play. These children, who are far more worse off than many of the other Haitians, seem uneffected by what is going on, and hold on to the pure joy of waking up to a new day.

What a blessing. To see happiness despite the destruction and struggle.

The way to make these childrens' day the best one yet? Bring candy. Bring anything. Just visit. If we all learned to live our lives to appreciate the simplicity of things, we could never be unhappy.

Terrible things happen every day, but miracles do too.

Deal with the bad, but live for the good.

So today, Romeo is fixing a basketball net. Simple as that. But by doing so, he'll make some number of orphaned children very happy. Isn't that what it all comes down to?

We live our lives so concerned with succeeding.

These children are living their lives so content.

Difference?

We worry. They just live.

For me, now knowing that Romeo is doing something that he really loves, I am inspired. I'm inspired to be more like that, and to learn from the example of children. It isn't often in our busy-body society that we stop to appreciate gestures. I'm going to do that from now on.

"While we try to teach our children about life,

Our children teach us what life is all about."

-A. Schwindt