Toss'n Rocks

Upon arriving in Haiti it was amazing to me how much I remembered but what probably shocked me even more, was how much I had forgotten.

I had only been at the Mission of Hope campus for maybe 2-3 hours when some of my dearest friends came walking up the hill towards my house. It was a few of the Hope House boys. Boys that live in our orphanage, that is on our compound. When I was an intern in the fall of 2011, I had spent quite a bit of time working with them, getting to know them, laughing with them and developing some wonderful friendships. So as you can imagine, when I first saw them walking up the hill, I was very excited. I hugged each one of them, asked them about their Christmas and New Year's and walked up to the playground. It didn't take long for us to all sit down on the loose rocks and continue to talk. One by one the boys started to pick up a rock or two and gently toss it at another rock, attempting to hit it. Watching them, I quickly realized that this was more habit than a conscious decision. They didn't even break conversation to pick up a rock and aim it at another victim rock. First just a few rocks were being thrown and then more and more. As more rocks began to be aimed and tossed, the less the conversation continued. And almost a matter of minutes the only sound that could be heard was the clank and clap of a rock being tossed into a pile of more rocks. This silence of words went on and on and on. I quickly found myself trying to come up with something else we could do. What game could we play? What subject matter could I bring up that they would want to talk about? My mind was literally racing. And then it hit me..... just toss rocks. I had forgotten the simplicity in which I had grown so accustomed to. I had forgotten that taking the time to just sit with someone, may be the most important thing you do that day. Tossing rocks may not be profound, it may not even make a whole lot of sense. Life doesn't always have to busy, things don't always have to be done. Everything has a time and a place. And right now, in this time and in this place, I'm going to toss rocks. So with that thought, I picked up another rock, glanced around at the boys to observe their smiles as their aim was getting better and better.... and tossed another rock.