In my previous post, I mentioned that I didn't feel that glitzy resorts are reality. Please don't misunderstand. I love a nice evening out as well as the next person, but so much of the frou-frou for lack of a better word is just so fake. The women in their 500.00 evening gowns are really no better or worse underneath than the Haitian women I saw sitting on a street corner yelling "Mandarin, mandarin, mandarin" as they hawked oranges, trying to earn a living.

As I dried my hands on a soft white washcloth in the resort's bathroom and tossed it in yet another wicker basket under the counter, I thought of the nuns in Mother Teresa's home for the dying in Port-au-Prince who used the same washcloth on more than one baby to clean up their incessant diarrhea, and then tossed it back into dirty water to rinse. No one in Port-au-Prince came by in a fancy uniform to gather washcloths and launder them for these exhausted and overworked nuns. They didn't even have the luxury of rubber gloves to cover their hands as they worked.

As I watched valets parking cars, I thought of how I traveled while in Haiti...in a tap tap. If you aren't familiar with public transportation in Haiti, picture the most beat up small size truck you can imagine, paint it with garishly bright colors and a few phrases such as "Jesus saves" and "God is love" in French, add wooden benches along each side of the bed of the truck, and a wrought iron frame built above for passengers to hold onto, and voila!...you have Haitian transportation. Oh, I forgot...you need to add anywhere from 12 to 15 passengers and a chicken or two in the back before it is full.

My daughter told me they would be having a chocolate fountain with fruit at the prom, and I thought of the rice and beans that Haitians eat day in and day out due to lack of funds to buy any more variety in their diet.

I thought of the day I was visiting Micheline's orphanage and they set down plates of beans and rice. She couldn't climb down from my arms fast enough to get to food that she feared another child would get to first.

I thought of how the gesture for food for my son Ben in China was the same sign we use for soup here. Once he got enough language to converse with me, he told me it was because watered down soup was about all he ever got to eat when he lived in a Chinese orphanage.

Do I love chocolate fountains? You bet! Give me a dessert bar and I'll be one of the first in line, but sadly, a dessert bar is not reality for most of the world's citizens.

When I was in San Antonio a year ago for a business convention with Jeff, we ate at a lovely restaurant along the Riverwalk. My meal alone was over $56.00, and I don't even drink alcohol. It was a simple one course meal with a chocolate (of course) dessert. I think there were about 12 of us there and the bill was over $800.00...for one meal. As we walked along the Riverwalk back to our hotel, the president of the board asked me if I liked my food.
"It was alright", I replied. Surprised by my lack of enthusiasm, he asked if something was wrong with the meal. "No, it was fine....but it makes me sad that for that price we could have fed all of the children in my daughter's small orphanage for well over one month, maybe two." Talk about a conversation stopper...he rather quickly excused himself and looked for a more appreciative audience.

If I were in charge of a prom--no worries here as it won't likely ever happen--I would let students have their beautiful night out on the town. Everyone deserves a Cinderella type evening at least once. But then I would gather them the next morning and put them on a bus or plane and let them visit an orphanage in Mexico...or Haiti...or wherever poverty is ubiquitous. I'd let them rock a dying baby in Port-au-Prince and I can promise you their lives would never be the same. Sure, a beautiful night out makes for some wonderful memories, but serving the less fortunate in the world changes lives.

Resorts are gorgeous, but they're not reality. Reality is how 90% of the world's population lives, and it sure isn't in evening gowns chatting next to a chocolate fountain. So excuse me if my eyes glaze over the next time you tell me how cramped your cabin was on your recent cruise. It's not that I don't care, but rather that I am remembering the size of homes I visited in Haiti that were the size of your cabin...and they held more than two people.

I apologize for not being concerned along with you that you simply couldn't find a cute purse to match your new pair of shoes, but I've seen far too many children who don't even own a pair of shoes.

Once you have seen and even smelled immense poverty, or held a dying baby who easily could have been saved with medical care in America, your life will never be the same. If you have seen 20+ Chinese infants bundled up in 6 or 7 layers all lying on their backs in cribs in a Chinese orphanage, you thank God for the ones who make it out and pray fervently for those who are left behind. I thank God daily for the life experiences my adoptions have given me. They have brought the world home to me and taught me gratitude. When I am at a business party or other social function, so much of the chatter seems inane. I don't feel like I fit in, but that's OK. The children of the world who have so little are never far from my mind, but I wouldn't want it any other way.

Photo Credit