Significance
What significance am I at all here in Granada? Am I doing anything that matters? I contemplate this thought as I look around at the hundreds of people lining up for the medical clinic at EL Puente. What can I do to make a difference in these peoples lives? Someone comes up to me on Wednesday to ask for money to buy their baby some milk – which they can’t afford. They are friends so we buy them milk for their baby. But then on Monday we get approached to buy uniform shoes for someone who needs them to go to school. Daily we are asked for money, help, and prayer. And still there are hundreds more that need help just here in Granada alone. Its a vicious cycle that seems as if it will never end.
Mondays I go and minister to homeless people that sit on the side of the street. We sit with them, buy them a fresco, and just talk to them. There are so many people sitting on the side of the road with their hands out asking for money – anytime they see a Gringo, they ask for a dollar. And people give it to them. Noone cares about these people on the side of the road. Noone will stop and ask them how they are feeling, how their day is going, where they sleep for the night. I have nothing I can give them – I cant buy away their pain or their hopelessness, but I can sit and listen to them. I can be their friend.
Its so easy to get discouraged when you look around and realize there are huge problems in Granada that need fixed. People need jobs, fathers need to stand up and be fathers, kids need to have a family unit that can love them and provide for them, people need hope. But then I realize – one person cannot fix the world. I look around and think of everything I need to fix in the world and forget to look at the people. I cant fix everything. But I can hang out with a homeless man on the side of the road and ask him how hes doing.
