May 15, 2012
Choosing Hell
First, as best as I could tell, there were only about 5 young men out of the 250+ in the total shelter/dorm population that were interested in choosing hell. Let me explain, but first read this news article:
Gangs Without Borders
Most of these kids had first hand experience with the decimation of their countries caused by these gangs, one of the big reasons for their flight. Nevertheless, there were a few kids that we interested in choosing hell and bringing it with them to this shelter. We had an incident in the cafeteria one day where competing gang symbols were thrown back and forth by a few guys in two different groups.
Props to the staff for recognizing this quickly and taking extraordinary measures to ensure that it didn't escalate. These kids were reminded of what gang violence has done to their homelands. They were reminded of all of the blessings in this blessed place. But you could tell by observing the offenders, they were more interested in choosing hell.
To quote C.S. Lewis in "The Great Divorce" - "the doors of hell are locked from the inside..."
