Brought tears to my eyes...

I read this CNN article entitled "Commentary: Congolese rape victim learns to smile again."

Reading the article was just heart breaking and yet, it was inspiring to me and just brought home something I've been noticing more often. It wasn't the "stuff" that made Jeanne smile, but it was the emotional connection to another person.

Through my eyes, I have witnessed so many people, children especially, who equate love with material things and yet they feel empty inside and aren't sure why. The $200 doll in a financially strapped family is suppose to represent "love" even though the parents prefer to watch TV than go play, talk or just interact with their child. The post secret with the Tiffany's receipt for a million dollar ring and he secret written on it saying that she still doesn't believe that he loves her.

Then with all these lawsuits, it seems people are now afraid to touch each other at all! We have fathers who are afraid of even touching their child because someone might think it's inappropriate and bring them to court. We have friends who are afraid to hug except for the hugs that has a lot of distance between them or an open arm for fear of being labeled homosexual.

So now, people around me communicate though several sterile electronic mediums, forgetting how healing it is to be touched by another human. And I'm not saying in a sexual manner. Although, if that's the only way a person is able to get real human contact, then perhaps makes sense that sex addition is on the rise.

So I wonder, are you able to recall how it feels to get a hug from a friend? Not one of those half-hugs, but a great big bear hug? It feels wonderful doesn't it? It lets me know that I'm not alone and that someone really does care about me and my well-being. I feel Dayle did this for Jeanne, a woman who believed that she was unlovable and so damaged that no one besides the hospital workers would want her to claim her as family.

I have no doubt that this simple act of kindness will give Jeanne strength to continue living and be one of the good memories she will call forth to aid her in her darkest hour. And when you look at the scene, it is all so very simple. One human caring about another.