Stolen Words

Stealing words from some of my favorite songs from my favorite artists.

"They got all the right friends and all the wrong places
So yeah we're going down
They got all the right moves and all the wrong faces
So yeah we're going down
Everybody knows, everybody knows
Where we’re going yeah we’re going down
Everybody knows, everybody knows
Where we’re going yeah we’re going down"

-One Republic

"I've seen the way you deal with things
The troubles that this life will bring
If it gets to you then I can tell by the way you sing
You act like it just doesn't mean a thing

I see you dancin all your, dancin all you, dancin all your daze
Maybe you can tell me how it is you got that way
Dancing all your, dancing all your, dancing all your daze
Come on, come on there's got to be a way

There's all these things that get me down
This dirty world is full of clowns
They'll build you up just so they can knock you down
Laugh at you while your there on the ground

But not you..
I see you dancin all your, dancin all you, dancin all your daze
Maybe you can tell me how it is you got that way
Dancing all your, dancing all your, dancing all your daze
Come on, come on there's got to be a way

I really like the way it feels
I look at you and it's real

I see you dancin all your, dancin all you, dancin all your daze
Maybe you can tell me how it is you got that way
Dancing all your, dancing all your, dancing all your daze
Come on, come on that's got to be the way"

-Avett Brothers

"It's a long and a dusty road a hot and a heavy load
and the folks that i met ain't always kind
some are bad some are good some have done the best they
could, and some have tryed to ease my troubled mind

and I cant help but Can't help but wonder where i'm bound
where i'm bound Can't help but wonder where i'm bound

I been wandering thru this land just doing the best I can
trying to find what I was meant to do and the people that I see look as worried as can be and it looks like they are wanderin too

and I can't help but wonder where i'm bound where im bound can't help but wonder where i'm bound


well I had a lil girl one time she had lips like sherry wine
and she loved me till my head went plum insane but i was to blind to see she was driftin' away from me and my good gal went off on a mornin' train

and I Can't help but wonder where i'm bound where I'm bound can't help but wonder where i'm bound

If you see me passing by and you sit and you wonder why and you wish that you were ramblin' too nail your shoes to the kitchen floor lace them up and bar the kitchen door thank your stars for the roof that's over you

and I Can't help but wonder where i'm bound where i'm bound can't help but wonder where i'm bound I Can't help but wonder where i'm bound where i'm bound can't help but wonder where i'm bound"

-Johnny Cash

Informative Speech COMM 1000

For my second speech in public speaking we had to an informative speech and I chose the street boys in Peru. I hope you enjoy. Thank you to Billy Greenman and Polly Ricks for their invaluable input.

“Finding food, staying alive, staying hidden. They eat anything...dirt, bricks, any food they can get. They have to sell themselves sexually or steal in order to get money to buy a plate of food or a bowl of soup. They hide out in the daytime to avoid being caught by the police and subsequently are thrown into prison and tortured or taken somewhere to be left to die. I have heard that the average lifespan of a boy on the street is 18 years.” This quote was given to me during an interview of Polly Ricks, a woman who has invested over 12 years of her life to helping the street children on Peru. The term street children is the politically correct term, Peruvian citizens call them “piranhas” and “bastards.” This past summer I was lucky enough to travel to Peru for two weeks and work with Scripture Union Peru outreach to the street boys. It was a slap in the face for sure, I hope to be able to inform you of the challenges, lifestyles, and hardships of these children.

Peru has around 29 million inhabitants. It is hard for the government to get an exact count of the number of street boys because the boys are good at hiding but the estimation is about 250,000 street children are in Peru’s streets. These children are put on the streets for a vast variety of reasons. In Inge Bolin’s book “Child rearing in highland Peru” he explains, “Women do not take a birth control pill or use other preventative methods common in mainstream society, since these are neither affordable nor trusted.” Because of this, many women get pregnant at an early age when they can not provide for the child, and the father most of the time disappears. Usually the first child is kept and raised, but in the years to come more and more children are born into the “family” and the mother is absolutely unable to provide for all of the children, so it is acceptable for the mother to send the first born and the ones she believes have the best chance of survival on the streets out. These children chosen are usually boys no older than six but could be as young as two or three. A common way this happens is the mother takes the children to a busy market far from their home, and purposely loses them in the crowd. Paul Clark, the director of Scripture Union Peru, often uses the illustration of a life boat. “When the boat is full one person needs to go overboard, or the entire boat will sink, and everyone drowns.”

Some children begin spending days on the streets trying to sell small bits of candy, hand-woven bracelets and hats, or they will just simply beg to try to provide income for the family. Many times, they are expected to bring home a certain quota daily, and if they do not meet that quota then they can expect to be beaten. Even when they do bring the proper amount of money home, very seldom does that translate to food on their plates. Billy Greenman, another employee for Scripture Union Peru said, “After awhile, sometimes the boy decides that he would be better off living on his own rather than trying to meet an unreasonable quota and still not getting fed.” Unfortunately the street is no safe haven from the hell that they called home, this situation is the epitome of the term ‘out of the frying pan into the fire.’

So what happens to these boys once they are on the streets? The streets of Peru are no place for people in there teens much less as young as two. The streets are full of gangs, violence, addictions, and death. The option of finding a job for a street boy is not an option at all. The street boys status in the economy is lower than the status of a slave. He has no one, and nothing other than the clothes on his back, if he even has clothes. So, the next reasonable option for the children in stealing for survival. This ranges from pick pocketing to stealing food from the markets. The younger and less experienced children who don’t know how to make a fast get away are usually caught by the police and tortured, when asked to elaborate Greenman said “They are raped and beaten. Boy's have been taken to a dungeon and used as a soccer ball to be kicked around. They have been forced to drink the policeman’s urine. They have been fed sandwiches laced with rat poison, and sadly, the list goes on.” The last option for survival on the streets, sadly, is prostitution. In Peru and all over the world sex trafficking and sex tourism is on the rise. These young boys will extend sexual favors in exchange for a small sum of money or just a plate of food. And the sick thing is, people actually take advantage of them and use them.
At the end of the day, the amount of help available to the children in proportion to the amount of children on the streets is very small. The group I was a part of this past summer has helped many children find the escape they desperately desire from the streets, but that is just a snowflake on the tip of the iceberg that is the help needed. There are many other programs in place similar to Scripture Union Peru dedicated towards helping the boys. When the boys steal and resort to drugs or prostitution, it is to "disaparece" themselves (to disappear themselves from pain, hunger, life) for a few minutes, they can be relieved of all of the horrors of being on the streets...and the thing they hold dear, the only real thing they own is "mi verdad", which is "my truth" or their story of what happened to them in their family and how they came to be thrown out of their home...most will NOT tell you their "verdad" and treasure "mi silencio" as the most deepest secret close to their heart. No one else can own their "truth" or their "silence". This is the one thing they own forever.

And these three things define college to you, to me.

-Back home again from BSC feeling exhausted, yes, but energized in ways not physical. It was so refreshing to reconnect with one of my best friends from back home, we share the same mindset on basically everything and are going through a lot of the same things right now. It was so relieving to be able to instantly reconnect and meant a lot to be able to. The fact that even though we only talk once or twice a month but anytime we see each other it’s like we haven’t been apart is invaluable to me. Growing up in church and maturing in Christ together we are in similar stages in our walks with Christ and because of that and build each other up so much and just having that reconnect refueled my passion for why I live the life I do.

The three words/terms we decided define college are these: “identity, throw it all out the window, and doing the little things”

Identity: coming into college we are trained to try to prove ourselves to everyone around us, it’s simply human nature and an easy way to do this is to fill you time and schedule with things that you can call say, “I’m a part of ___________, __________, and ___________.” But, as time progresses the people who accepted you for the things you are a part of and that reason only drift out of your life. The only way to define yourself is through Christ. Everything else is merely an asset. You really learn a lot about how you view yourself and how everyone else does as well. Identity.

Throw it out the window: This is a kind of direct spawn from the point of “identity” how you think you are defined, how you think about the world , how you judge others and think you will be judged as well. Just throw it ALL out the window. College is not the same for any two people, but it is not at all what you have preconceived in your mind. It is a wonderful incredible experience but it is like being dunked in cold water, your eyes are opened and it’s up to you if you ignore them being opened or if you accept the world for what it is and learn to live “in the world but not of it” What you think is bad what is good, what is sin, what is ok, where to draw the line, You will be stretched and challenged, but if you know who you are and how you define yourself, you will be fine. Cling to the word and hold fast to the cross and especially your friendships.

Doing the little things: This is how you can prove you know who you are, this is how you show others your identity, this is how you throw it all out the window, this is how you find yourself and how you fulfill the Great Commission at this stage in life. It is as simple as being the sober person at the parties, repeatedly. Easy as inviting other to church every Sunday again and again. Easy as living for others more than yourself and dying to your selfish needs. It’s doing the little things. Even if they don’t affect people in the here and now who knows how God can use these actions in the years to come. Don’t you want to be able to say ‘I used every moment as a chance to lead others to Christ, I had fun, I lived fully, War Eagle.’ That’s my goal, and to achieve it I try to keep the little things in check and somehow the big things seem less important and everything falls into place. All really is in God’s hands.