Thursday, January 26, 2006

Listen

"I feel like dying," the forty-year-old detainee tells me in tears. All I can do is listen as he vents his heartaches to me. All my embrace-and-let-go, don't-stress-about-things-you-can't-control, and focus-on-learning-English pep talks don't help change how he feels. So I listen, I acknowledge him and listen.

Who knows how many grown men all quietly cry in their bed in the middle of the night?

Who can hear their pain?

We all need to listen.