The following is a journal entry I wrote on June 25th,
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.”
