It caught me off guard. I wasn’t intending on getting into the subject of suicide, but when she said: “Someone told us about a girl who felt so ugly she took her life”, I realized this was a subject we needed to talk about. I was sharing about my job with the crisis hotline with a group of 10 year olds. Children I imagine are living in safe and protected homes (but I don’t know). I was planning on talking about subjects I thought were more appropriate to their age group; thinking (and hoping) that bullying and self-image would be heavy enough. And then I am sat there having to re-think my strategy and find words to be real with these 10-year old, without traumatizing them by a reality they should not have to think about. Thankfully these were children who were good at reflecting and putting words to their thoughts and feelings. And we made it through our time together, not with all the answers, but them with a slightly deeper glimpse of the dark reality of our society. The convers
Life is a journey full of weird and interesting experiences. As the years go by, what was once new and different, has become part of the ordinary and usual. And those things which once brought amazement, no longer catch my attention. So instead of letting the new and exciting fade into nothing, I want to try to capture and keep some of these moments.