The world grows smaller every day

I felt the ground shake early this morning, around 1:15 am. I felt the foundation of my home tremble: the walls around me, the bed I laid in, the second story floor I later stood in. After my initial confusion, I soon realized it was an earthquake.

I thought about all those places that had suffered through an earthquake. I thought about the damages made, the lives lost and the grief some still struggle to survive through. I thought… it could be my turn now. And I was thankful. Not because I was eager to take on a natural disaster, but because the youngest members of my family were not in residence. They wouldn’t have to face an earthquake and bear through its consequences. I was grateful for that.

In a matter of seconds, the quake was over. I was praying. Nothing was destroyed. No buildings shattered, no roads splintered, no lives lost. It was reported as a 5.7 magnitude earthquake. Later in the morning, I woke up to find everything normal. Nothing had changed except my awareness of the tremor, and the knowledge that it could have been much worse. I couldn’t help but to think… the world grows smaller every day. Earthquakes have rocked across continents, affecting nations and devastated people worldwide. Some recent recorded events are:

• Italy – April 6 2009
• Haiti – January 12 2010
• Chile – February 27 2010
• China – April 14 2010

We have seen the damages, the tears, the deaths, the devastation and the look of desolation in the eyes of some of these victims. Because of that, we, people from different cultures and upbringings, come together in a time of despair. We are brought together by grief, by fear, by the outcome of violence and destruction. We share pain, we share loss and we share the overwhelming feeling of being small that comes from such distressing circumstances. Instinctively, we unite, and with our differences thrust aside, we pray and help one another. Consequently, the balance of humanity is restored in exchange for a heavy price. I say this because, even though the method in which we are reminded is a frightening disaster, in the end, we remember to value one another as true human beings.

By: V.S

Happy birthday to a very special sister. I know we’re apart and we may not speak too often, but there’s no forgetting who you are and what you bring to the family. Happiness, love, laughter, creativity, warmth and a bond of sisterhood as strong as steel. You deserve every drop of joy. God bless you.

From a very humbled sister.

Never alone

Tell me everything will be alright
I need to know I’m not alone
Never alone

It’s not easy
You’ll never know how hard it is to get up in the morning
To feel like I’m one step short of disappearing into thin air

I can hardly recognize myself
Time won’t answer how I got this way
I’m falling to pieces I can’t replace

Tell me again, everything will be alright
I need to know I’m not alone
Never alone

The weight over my shoulders gets heavier every day
And each time I fall it’s harder to get back up
I feel myself fading away, and there’s no one to hold on to me

I’ve been paying life’s prices since I was born
I need this heartache to end
There are no tears left for me to shed

Please tell me once more, I need to hear you say
Everything will be alright
And that I’ll never be alone

By: V.S