{"id":1022,"date":"2012-03-30T11:22:48","date_gmt":"2012-03-30T05:52:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.wordpress.com\/?p=1022"},"modified":"2013-06-17T18:54:16","modified_gmt":"2013-06-17T18:54:16","slug":"touching-lives-columbo-shri-lanka-03242012","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/?p=1022","title":{"rendered":"Touching Lives \u2013 Columbo, Shri Lanka \u2013 [03\/24\/2012]"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>\u201cDon\u2019t you see Becky? It is only chance that I am not you and you are not me, only chance\u201d \u2013 Sara Crew, A Little Princess<\/em><\/p>\n

Sometimes it takes a bit to jolt you into the realization of how lucky you are. It\u2019s easy to complain, even on this floating paradise, about little things, because in our little bubble-world, the little things seem huge. But then you find yourself on the pavement under the blazing Shri Lanka sun, waiting to guide 32 wide-eyed orphan girls and their three chaperons, up the gangway…and a lot of things slip into place.<\/p>\n

What does it matter if the internet is down for a day? What does it matter if we have to do our own laundry? What does it matter if the AC in your overpriced luxury cabin isn\u2019t working properly?<\/p>\n

Simple answer really: it doesn\u2019t. None of it.<\/p>\n

I get tired of people who treat these children like some kind of a museum exhibition. I keep having to remind myself that we are, in fact, beyond the days of the concept of \u2018cabinets of curiosities\u2019 when people could be dragged out of their perfectly normal lives to be set on display next to seashells and rhino horns. But in truth, sometimes I wonder if we have. When I was sitting with the girls at lunch, watching them silently (honestly these kids were so very quiet it was almost unsettling!) munch on chicken nuggets and French fries, more than one passenger walked purposely through the roped off section of the lido (which is not<\/em> a shorter way to get to the main entrance), for the sole reason of getting a look at the orphans.<\/p>\n

As if they were some kind of art exhibit or display piece.<\/p>\n

To me? They\u2019re just children. Children who have had to too hard, who will likely grow up to live in slums or arranged marriages, children who deserve better than the life they have \u2013 but children none the less. Children who may well appreciate their lives more than we do ourselves because when you have less? You appreciate more.<\/p>\n

But at the heart of it ? They\u2019re children, like any others.<\/p>\n

I had a similar reaction last year, when we supported the orphanage in the Philippines. The children were older this year, and their reactions more subdued, but the energy of the day was the same. Being strongly empathic around orphans in a totally foreign environment is an interesting experience to say the least. It makes me think perhaps too much. I always want to just give them everything and run off to join the peace core. Sometimes it takes quite a self-lecture to remind me that that\u2019s not actually a good idea at this point in my life.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s easy to get angry with children when they spend all day running you ragged, but these particular kids had reason to. They\u2019d never been on a ship before, probably never seen anything like<\/em> the ship before. They didn\u2019t get lost, they just moved quickly. The DJ and I had our hands full keeping up with them and trying to keep them together, particularly since they could barely put together a sentence in English! Eventually we got them all through lunch and up to the children\u2019s area of the ship, and then to backstage so that they could prepare for their show. They played to a full house, as well they deserved, and then, at the end, our cruise director reveals what we never tell them before they arrive.<\/p>\n

We\u2019ve been involved in a bit of fundraising for your school in the last few days…in total the guests onboard raised $2500 in donations…and we decided to supplement that a bit<\/em><\/p>\n

And he hands over a cheque for $5000.<\/p>\n

Unashamedly, I felt myself tear up.<\/p>\n

One life touches so many other lives. I know some people get a little too proud of the fact that they\u2019ve given $10 to charity, but every $10 does add up. $5000 is a lot<\/em> of money for these kids. Enough to probably fix up the building that they live in so that it\u2019s in half-decent condition or buy them a good supply of new clothes.<\/p>\n

But still, it is only chance…chance that we are not them and they are not us.<\/p>\n

It is, ultimately, all about balance.<\/p>\n

And, in some small way, giving someone hope instead of despair.<\/p>\n

Bright blessings<\/p>\n

Shaughnessy<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cDon\u2019t you see Becky? It is only chance that I am not you and you are not me, only chance\u201d \u2013 Sara Crew, A Little Princess Sometimes it takes a bit to jolt you into the realization of how lucky … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[4,40,16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1022","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-below-the-waterline","category-grand-world-voyage-2012","category-ports-of-call"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3GtNE-gu","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1022","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1022"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1022\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2272,"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1022\/revisions\/2272"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1022"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1022"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1022"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}