I once visited an orphanage for a field trip in high school. It was an orphanage specifically for babies or younger kids who were abandoned by their parents. We had to interact with the kids, play with them, feed them, create a program for them, and just spend some time making these kids feel like they weren't forgotten. It was heartbreaking to see such young kids already experiencing what many only experience in their adulthood: abandonment, loneliness, feelings of worthlessness and unwantedness. This experience really made me look at my life and try to appreciate what I have. I may not have the perfect family, but at least I have people around me who love and accept me. We should all strive to make each and every person we meet feel loved. As Elllen Degeneres says, be kind to one another. Because that's why we were put on this Earth.
I once had to visit my sister in a mental hospital, she had tried to commit suicide and it was really devastating seeing so many young kids hating themselves. The atmosphere was so dull and bleak, every girl sad kinda far away from each other with their hoods up staring at the floor. I couldn't help but wonder what dark thoughts they were having, I wanted so badly to try to help to each and every one of them and tell them that they're worth something and they have so much more to see and experience in this lifetime, I wanted them to actually start getting it into their heads that they are worth it. Every time I visited I kept over-hearing and seeing my sister suffer in there, begging to go home. She was miserable. And the the worst of it all was reading a note that I was asked to write to my sister about how it would've made me feel if she had successfully committed suicide. I tried to read it but I kept choking up. Every word hurt because it scared me to have to imagine what it would've been like if she left me. I had to have my mom read it and she just about broke down seeing it. It was such a mess. But needless to say during and after that time I suffered from on and off depression and it has really damaged me, but what keeps me going is this one thing my grandmother and mom have said to me since I was a little girl and that's "everything happens for a reason". Another was a quote from my late grandfather, "with everything terrible that happens, there will always be a gift." I tell myself those two things when I'm feeling low and it keeps me going. :) <span />
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