You don’t see what I see
You don’t see what I see
by Joey Soto
I don’t think you get it.
But it’s not your fault, really. It’s not.
When you see this picture, you don’t see what I see.
You see a Gringo wearing a silly Royals jersey with a bandana that doesn’t match.
You see a little girl who appears to have forgotten to put on all her clothes this morning.
You see a little smile on the girl’s face.
You don’t even know what’s going on with the Gringo.
You probably don’t care.
When I look at this picture, I’m broken anew.
I see a girl who two days earlier probably didn’t know what Love was. She never felt it—and even if she’d heard of it, there’s no way she believed it truly existed. It was merely Santa to her, something else she’ll never understand.
I see a girl who’s hungry.
Not only for the food her body is often neglected of, but for love, attention and someone who freaking cares. Somebody who isn’t just going to write her off as another mouth to feed, another child to look after.
I see a girl who often doesn’t know where her next meal will come from. A girl who doesn’t know the next time she’ll be able to muster a smile.
I see a girl who dreads the darkness because her resting place is in an indention in the ground with 5 of her siblings.
I see a girl who probably doesn’t even realize her 10-year old sister with AIDS is a ticking time bomb, set to detonate whenever nature takes its course.
I see a girl who finally, after years of existing, is able to know what it means to be loved deeply.
I see a girl who doesn’t want this short, simple moment where eyes meet to ever end. Because when it ends—and she knows it will end—she’ll have to return to her former life.
I see a girl whose future is uncertain, her house is eroding and her family is cramped.
I see a girl who now has felt Love, not from any person, but from her Maker. The kind of Love that truly touches the soul.
I see this and I weep, both tears of joy and despair.
I am in despair because there’s nothing I can do from a thousand miles away to continually love on this young girl. There is nothing I can do, apart from prayer, to ensure this girl feels Love. There’s nothing I can do to ensure this child gets the little bit of food that she needs to sustain her life—all the while I am surrounded by a nation riddled with obesity.
While the despair is immense, the joy is triumphant.
I know this young child, probably for the first time in her life, knows that there is something out there that is greater than her condition, her physical hunger, her brokenness.
She has seen Love. And Love is all she needs.
This is one little girl, from one little nation, from yet a smaller city in a world full of brokenness.
You probably didn’t see that.
And you probably are lucky because if you did, you’d have to care. And if you cared, you’d have to help. And no one is in the spirit of helping anyone else—WE’VE ALL GOT OUR OWN ISSUES TO CLEAN UP, RIGHT?
No. You don’t see what I see.
But I wish you did.
"…Blessed are the eyes that see what you see." – Luke 10:23
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