Remember ME

The Traveller 

She has put on invisibility.
Dear Lord, I cannot see--
But this I know, although the road 
ascends
and passes from my sight,
That there will be no night;
That You will take her
gently by the hand
And lead her on

Along the road of life that never ends,
And she will find it is not death
but dawn.
I do not doubt that You are there as  here,
And You will hold her dear.

Our life did not begin with birth,
It is not of the earth;
And this that we call death,
 it is no more
Than the opening and closing of
a door--
And in Your house how many rooms 
must be
Beyond this one where we rest 
 momently.

Dear Lord, I thank You for the faith 
 that frees,
The love that knows it cannot lose its 
 own;
The love that, looking through the 
 shadows, sees
 that You and she and I are ever
one!

-    James Dillet Freeman

..... I BUUUURN for you.....

The beautiful verse above has been recited at millions of funerals throughout the world. I don't often use BLOG thingie to voice my opinions but this is an occasion I will make an exception. I am usually too caught up in my own Journey to pass comment on other people's lives, but this little story has hit a 'spot', a very sensitive one. This morning I read an article about a girl, a very pretty girl. She worked the streets of a red light district and had done so for 20 years of her 40 year old life. For the last 10 years she lived in an old broken down van. She was found murdered a couple of weeks ago. But on the front page of the paper this morning that girl's life was celebrated. A vigil was held in her honour last night with hundreds of people attending by candlelight. I didn't know her like many of the attendees. But I cried for her. See, I know her pain. I know several who have left us early in their lives. I also lived on the streets. I 'hung' with people just like her. In a lot of ways I was her. Just another STORY without a happy ending, although maybe for her it was her happy ending. Only she knows. The article says she had a DREAM to have her own place (to rent) and to get a job as a kitchen hand. Not to win Lotto or the car or mansion or designer clothes. Just a simple dream. She wanted to find her son who was raised by her parents and brother. She lived with pain. She wanted peace in her life. Most street people are like that. They have simple dreams. They crave peace and light but live under their rock of darkness.

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...... remember ME ......

But street people feel 'excluded' from normal society. They become part of the street stories. They live them and sometimes work them but they're part of the street, not a part of society. It's one of the unfair separators of homelessness. Social exclusion kills. I had some very good friends with 'stories'. Tragic stories, heartbreak, drugs and alcohol, mental afflictions, stuff they were born with. They didn't deserve to die. But they did. Hopefully death will bring them 'social inclusion' of a different kind. I went to funerals paid for by the state because there were no known friends or family. Just me and a couple of volunteers to say 'goodbye' or 'see ya soon'. But the girl with the vigil last night. WOW. I hope she was watching. She would have had the biggest smile. Hundreds of people gathered with their candles. Many didn't know anything about her other than what they read. But they all met in the cold and they sang and they celebrated the life of 'that girl with the beautiful smile' that was on the street corner every night. It makes me proud. They cared. They made her somebody. They made her important.
And she was..........

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Light in the darkness ......

Her life meant something to all of those people. She mattered.
I am blessed to have lived the streets, to have been homeless for so long, to have lived in the bush and slept in a tent. Blessed.
I found ME. And within ME I found writing. I didn't learn to write. I learnt to experience. The experience gave me something to write about. Blessed. Now I can tell how I feel while I can feel. Maybe, just maybe, my feelings will help people, just like the girl with the beautiful smile because they will understand that I understand. And it would appear that many people are beginning to understand, just like me. How cooool is that. OMG, how cooool........
That girl had a dream, a beautiful simple one. She couldn't see it manifest but she could "SEE" her dream, just like I can "SEE" mine. I am sad that she died but so glad that she lived. Last night people REMEMBERED by candlelight. Finally she had peace and light.............
Find your ME. Tell your STORY.
Chase your DREAM......... Make life worth it.
Tick ...... Tick ...... Tick ............

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