Difícil

May 11, 2012

Difícil
or, letting others down

My friend Luis, whom I first met in Clinical Observation and became one of my favorite friends, was always happy, always smiling, and always ready to practice his English. Did I mention that in the face he looks a lot like Tiger Woods? Look at the image on the right, take off the golf hat, imagine Tiger wearing a blue t-shirt and you have Luis.

And when I saw him sitting in phone call room hunched over and sobbing, I knew of nothing else to do but sit with him while he cried. My co-worker Paula encouraged me to stay with him.

When he noticed that I was beside him he straightened up, dabbed his eyes and tried to pretend that he had not been crying.

"¿Está bien, Luis?"

"Lo siento, es difícil."

Luis went on to tell me that he had left his home in Honduras, bound for the United States in order to work and send money back to his dad, mom and family. This family's hope was pinned on this 17 year old boy. Luis felt as though he had failed them - he didn't make it to the "land flowing with milk and honey," instead he was caught and placed in this shelter.

"No, no Luis, lo siento."

I'm sorry that we live in world that allows gang violence to decimate your country. I'm sorry that we live in a world of such abundance that we have heated car seats and macaroni & cheese pizza, yet right at our gates are people that live in unimaginable poverty. I'm sorry that corruption rules the Americas. I'm sorry that you didn't somehow make it to my doorstep because we would have figured something out...