So the school grounds that I’m working at this month are always locked up so when we first arrive most of us walk around the neighborhood picking up kids and the rest wait at the school for the Principal to come let us in. This system has worked great except for last Thursday. For some reason Lola didn’t show up. Luckily our contact knew of a park nearby so we took the kids there to play. The previous three days we had a 100% percent injury free rate so it was weird that within the first hour two different kids came up to us with huge cuts on their feet (as I’ve mentioned in another blog, most of the kids don’t wear shoes). Luckily a squadmate had brought a first aid kit for such an occasion and was able to patch them up pretty quickly (hoping and praying infection wouldn’t set in as they continued to play without shoes in dirt).
After that one little girl asked me to help her get onto one of the jungle gyms because she’s too little. I walked her over and hoisted her up laughing with her as she swung around and around on this rope. I was nervous about her getting down so I looked to see the height difference between her and the ground to make sure she could make it down and all of a sudden my breath caught in my throat and a fury just took over me. Littered on the ground where broken beer bottles. They were everywhere. Big pieces and little pieces, all over where little kids who didn’t have shoes were going to land. I now knew how those kids got those cuts and I was surprised we hadn’t had more!
I wish I could adequately describe how I angry I was. Who would do this? It was multiple bottles so this wasn’t like someone dropped a bottle and was too drunk to pick it up. This was lots of people with lots of bottles. So while sweet little Bernadette swung around and around I rushed as fast as possible to pick up as much glass as possible. She jumped down safely and ran off to another jungle gym. I walked to the far back fence and dropped the glass.
A younger boy saw me and ran over wondering what I was doing. I showed him the glass and said it was bad and be careful. He then walked me around to all the different jungle gyms in the park and every single one of them was surrounded by broken beer bottles. The grassy areas were completely clean; the bottles were only where the children would be playing. Someone had done this on purpose. I instantly had the feeling of wanting to punch someone in the face. There was a man sitting on his porch watching us play at the edge of the field and I kept thinking if he’s the one doing this may God deal with him ever so severely!
I spent the rest of our time there walking from jungle gym to jungle gym picking up as much glass as I could. A few kids came over and helped me and as I continued to seek to make this park a safer place for these beautiful kids my heart started to change. My anger and fury started to change to compassion and sadness. In my head I kept asking, “Who does this?” I no longer said it with shock but now with a broken heart. What is going on in their life that they find joy or peace in harming small children? And I started to get teary eyed—for the children who their only option is to play in the street or a park covered in broken beer bottles and for the people who are trying to find peace and joy through hurting others. And I started to pray—for the kids and for the adults and for me. The prayer for me was to find my joy and peace in God and to grow in compassion; that I wouldn’t linger in my angry pants.
It’s a week later and I’m still angry but I know forgiveness is coming for these people I don’t even know.
