Previous Challenge Entry (Level 3 - Advanced)
Topic: Life (06/15/06)
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TITLE: R.S.V.P. | Previous Challenge Entry
By Garnet Miller
06/22/06 -
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If this letter has fallen into your hands, then my hope has faltered. The walls have closed in on my faith in humanity.
I first became aware of my “change in attitude” when health insurance companies began to turn every breath we take into the “business of living”. I visited the doctor for a physical. My premiums are through the roof, but I figured it would be worth it in the long run. According to my literature, all I needed to pay was thirty dollars. Imagine my surprise when the receptionist said, “That will be two hundred dollars and thirty-one cents.” What could I do? I wrote a check for all the money I had in the family account until the next payday. I returned home to find out that my husband had made a visit to the urgent medical center to the tune of two hundred sixty dollars and that was with insurance. Guess what? He wrote a check too.
I can’t turn on the television without hearing about another of our brave soldiers being killed in Iraq. I pray and pray but still they die. What will be the outcome if the war continues? You see, it’s hard to defeat an adversary who fears neither pain nor death. When one dies, there are several more ready to take up the cause. It is like fighting smoke and shadow.
In the meantime, people continue to die on our streets every day without benefit of terrorism. But then, maybe terror is to blame. Loneliness, hatred, and despair attack our consciousness like the plague. Rising unemployment brings hunger and crime in its wake. Most of us, including me, are one paycheck away from the plight of thousands of others. The wolf stands at the door and he is ready to strike!
What was my final straw? I met a young boy who had been lost in the foster care system. Neglect had caused weight loss and developmental problems. In his six years of life, he has never known the unconditional love of another person. And still, the state legislature cut funds for social programs in favor of a lottery bill. Who will tell this child that his life isn’t worth the price of a lottery ticket?
We’ve become a world of empty shells—drained of innocence and hope for tomorrow. Day after day we fill up on the injustice and evil that surrounds us, witnessing in the daylight things that should only exist in nightmares. I open my eyes, thinking that it was all a dream and that society isn’t out of control, only to realize that I have been awake all the time.
The reality is that some will take their own lives just to know freedom with their last breath. Alcohol and drugs will wash away the present horrors from many only to replace them with future regrets. Children without hope will become adults who lack compassion. As for me, I’m choosing to keep my wits about me. God is a possible solution, but where can He be found?
So, whoever you are reading this, I pray that you are one of His followers. Ask Him to help you find “me”—every “me”. I am the homeless one foraging for food in a nearby dumpster and the young lady selling her body on the street. I am the suburban housewife and the single mother. I am the frightened child and the old man in the nursing home. I am easy to find, but may be hard to reach. I carry within my breast chaos and the fear of a world that has crushed my spirit and left me in the dust. This is my life. Please help Him save it.
Signed,
A Fellow Human Being
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