twentieth.

I just finished watching a documentary called Craigslist Joe. If you have Netflix, I highly recommend checking it out. The premise behind the movie is that this guy, Joe, challenges himself to live strictly off of Craigslist for 31 days. He has no food, no shelter, no money to start with. All he brings with him are the clothes on his back and his laptop, a cell phone, and toothbrush and toothpaste. His goal is try and find food and shelter and possibly hitch rides over this period of time. More than just the logistics behind using Craigslist to achieve these daily needs, the movie becomes more about the human experience surrounding his adventures. He starts in LA and makes it all the way across the country to New York and back.

I feel such a strong connection to movies like this and I think it's because I am drawn to the human experience. I love stories. I could sit for hours in a crowded airport and just imagine what someone's story is. I think that's why having a family is so important to me because I love the idea of leaving a legacy or leaving a story behind for someone to tell.

Even in my family there are so many wonderful stories to tell. Like my Grandma and Grandpa Hanson. I want to know more of their story. But what I know of them is that they were warm, loving people who lived along River Des Peres and shared many adventures together. They were cruise experts. My Grandma Hanson was a doll.  Even when we would visit her in the nursing home, she was a hoot. She always had a new story of a new crush from the home, Gary across the hall, or Jack from Bingo the other night, and she always had her hair done and her nails done. Though by the end her hair was a wee bit on the neon orange side, she was always making a statement and so I remember her for that.

Sometimes we tend to lose faith in humanity. From small circumstances like the person who cuts you off in traffic to the more tragic moments like what recently happened in Connecticut. It gets hard to believe that people think of anyone other than themselves. It can be a self gratifying, me first kind of world that we are a part of.

In those moments where my heart breaks over the state of things, I dig deep for those moments that proclaim the beauty of humanity. Many of those experiences revolve around those times I spent in other countries. I went on a volunteer basis, and you are prepared to give, but the thing that you always come away with, always, is that you received more than you gave. You learned more than you could ever teach. You were blessed more than you were able to bless others.

There was a boy at the orphanage in Burkina, who is now a handsome young man, named Achille. Achille is a dwarf. Already in society it's hard to function and feel normal with this kind of condition, and that's in developed countries. In Burkina he was treated as if he was possessed by some demon. His family literally believed he was cursed and so they banned him from human contact with the rest of the family. He was separated from his parents and siblings and banned to a shed where he was fed the scraps that even the dogs probably received more of. When it was discovered by Ruth, the amazing woman who runs the orphanage, that this was happening, she insisted that they take him in. Imagine yourself in this situation. How many of us would be bitter and resentful? How many of us would hold anger in our hearts for the remainder of our lives? How many of us would never trust another human soul? How many of us would always be afraid?

Achille is a beautiful soul. His language development was so far behind that he might as well have been  taking classes with the preschoolers. He had never had any kind of loving human contact before in his life. Yet he persevered. He worked hard in school. He was appreciative. He was grateful. He was a tender soul. He was so so loving. And now he's a wonderful young man, and I would love to go back to Burkina and thank him. Thank him for teaching me the beauty of perseverance, of forgiveness, of resilience and of unconditional love.

Achille probably has no idea that he taught me so much. He was just being Achille.

Achille is down in front in the yellow shirt. (This is when I bought them all new shoes.)

So when it's hard to believe in someone, just remember all of the times that it may have been hard for someone to believe in you. Remember that we all have stories, we all have tragedies, we all have faults and failures, but we all have the ability to exude beauty, perseverance, grace and forgiveness. We all have the ability to dig deep down within ourselves and fight the battles that bring us down and come out on top, shining.

The human spirit is a beautiful thing. So let your story be told. And listen to other people's stories. It may change your life.