The following is a journal entry I wrote on June 25^th,
2008.  That day I visited the women’s
ward in the hospital for the first time. 
The room was filled with sickness ranging from stroke to AIDS.  After I journaled each visit, I concluded the
following.  I apologize for any poor
English.  It really isn’t my forte.  I decided to type it word for word, as I did
that Wednesday evening.

“Overall, I don’t feel overall sadness or depression or
anything.  I feel somewhat normal.  At first I didn’t think this was a legit
emotion, but I thought about it more.

The people I visited today are people.  They aren’t defined by their diseases.  I honestly didn’t want to talk about why they
were there in that hospital.  It just
didn’t matter.  All that accomplishes is
bringing up more sadness and despair.  I
wanted to hear about their lives… their families… their backgrounds.  They are just people.  I felt like I just went out and met some more
friendly Swazis.  They don’t deserve to
be treated like their disease.  If I were
talking from a heart that said, ‘I am healthy. 
You are very sick.  I will feel
bad about how sick you are’ then I’m not treating them as equals… not treating
them with respect.  So, my feelings… so legitimate.  I want to love on these people, no matter
what their situation is… in the same way I would with any of my friends… any of
my teammates.  Jesus loved everyone is
the same was regardless.  Shouldn’t we
strive for that?  I say Yes.  Run toward it.”