Someone Anyone
One day while working at the coffee shop, I thumbed through the wall street journal only to find yet another sad story. A girl at the young age of 12 had been forced into marriage, and because she was too young to be involved with an older man, she nearly died from medical complications. I wondered how that little girl must have felt on her wedding night. Was she horrified? Was she unaware that there could be another way of life; another way of love?

All of these thoughts were going through my mind as I was preparing specialty coffee drinks for a seemingly happy bunch of working class Americans in comfortable Wisconsin; where a bad day is when the Packers lose. I wondered if any of them ever cared for people like this little girl, from another country. In that moment of cynicism and judgment, I began to notice their faces. I wondered how many of them had gone through painful divorces, how many were working just to keep up with the Joneses, how many of them were just like the little girl. Then my thoughts turned inward and I realized that most of the time all I want is someone to love me too. I want to be incredible and special and important in the eyes of someone. I want to be understood when I try to communicate my heart. We’re all in the same boat. We want love. We want it to be the real thing.

Could the little girl dare to hope that someone would love her for more than her services? Could the rejected man wake each day with joy in the midst of sorrow, knowing that someone had sacrificed all just to show their love for him? Could there really be someone who would whisper words of love in my ears? Could we dare to hope that there is an answer to the universal cry for love?

Copyright © 2005 Katie Nelson.