Scatter Plot

T.w.e.l.v.e

This contains religious content.

Okay, I just need to rant for a moment, because frankly I'm pissed. (And I don't use mean words like that lightly). Tonight, for my church youth group, we were doing a service project, moving a widow in our congregation, and helping her clean. Now let me give you some background on this widow.

Savannah is a kind hearted woman from Georgia who has been my neighbor for seven years now. Two months ago, her husband died. He was an alcoholic, and a diabetic...his sugars completely sky rocketed one night and he fell unconscious and died. He had sadly turned to the bottle for pain, as well as grieving considering their daughter had died two years ago. Well, Savannah is heartbroken. Last week, after months of suffering with back pain, she finally went to the doctor and they discovered that she had absolutely no surrounding cartilage in between her vertebrates, so at any moment, one wrong slip, and her entire spine can collapse on itself. On Friday, she goes into major surgery to repair it. Well now she just found out she is gonna lose the house, and she has to get rid of all her animals. She has eleven horses. A kind person in our congregation took in six of them, three have to be put down, and two are going to her son. It took her a week to convince her that the three that have to be put down, that it was in their best interest. One is blind and has a broken leg, one is completely lame and has no teeth, and the last one recently broke three legs in a fight.

This whole situation has been terrible and miserable for everyone. She has put up a fight with her animals, but has reluctantly given in. Now that you have some background, please let me now begin my rant.

My youth group is comprised of teenagers ranging from twelve to eighteen, and there is about thirty of us in our area. As we were helping clean the house, I was sorting out food in the pantry, when Sara and Ty began to talk. They began to talk about how disgusting the house was, and how we were all going to come away diseased, and the animals were gross. They spoke about the grime, the mice, everything. Now, Savannah is my neighbor...three miles down the road, but we live in the middle of nowhere. Out in the boonies, we have a lot of mice. Mice in our car, in our house, garage, everywhere. We can't stop them, it's just part of life now. It just pained me how they could speak so harshly against a recently widowed woman who can hardly move. I'm sorry she doesn't have the time or strength to clean out the cabinets for your convenience. This is why we're here you idiots.

As the cleaning went on, my friend Matt, you remember Matt? He's my ADHD buddy. Any who, he comes into the kitchen, practically in tears, holding two baby mice.

"The other boys were stepping on them! I managed to save these two." He said, glancing down at them sadly. I gave him a sympathetic look, right as Sara comes in and gags.

"Ew, Matt, you're gonna get diseases! Just kill them! What we do is we take them in a cup, put a lid on, and shake them until they die." Matt gives her the same look of horror that's written on my face. How could someone be so cruel? I turned to Matt, ignoring Sara.

"Matt, they're going to die. I'm sorry. Without their mom, they're going to get hungry, and they're going to freeze." I explained. I've had to deal with plenty of orphaned mice, but I never could possibly do anything inhumane to them.

"I know." He said sadly. He gives me a sorrowful look and makes his way out of the kitchen. Right now, he is currently my favorite person in the world.

Now, of course it doesn't stop there. No, it gets much worse. I didn't witness this next part, but my sister did, and she was so mad she was reduced to tears. She just about punched a leader in the face. She was outside weeding the backyard when Chrissie began to complain, my sister's Sunday school teacher.

"I can't believe we have to be here. Why can't Savannah get off her fat lazy butt and do some work herself? I can't believe we're wasting service on someone. We should be at a soup kitchen!"

My sister, she's rather shy, not one to voice her opinions, immediately retaliated, already crying.

"Savannah needs our help! She didn't ask for you to come, she didn't ask for any of us, but it's simply the right thing to do. And she can't get off her butt and work, you know why? Because if she exerts herself, she can collapse her spine! She has been through a lot these past few weeks!" Now for my fifteen year old sister to shut a leader down like that...I wish I could have seen her face. We've been taught to respect adults, but I have no respect for someone who complains about helping a cripple person.

Later, after our leaders deemed it "good enough" we gathered around for treats, which I refused because I can't eat when I'm mad. As they were passing out the candy, one of the leaders asked if the candy came from Savannah.

"If it came from Savannah, it'd be ten years old and covered in mice feces." Well, good sir, I thought you were a nice person, but that slip up was really uncalled for.

My dad of course was hearing it from the leaders too, and he was dead silent...which I know was because if he opened his mouth he was going to blow. My dad, our neighbor Jeff, and Savannah began to discuss the horses that were to be put down. I was there, and I began to tear up for her as well, knowing how hard it is to lose your animals. As she began to cry, the president of my youth group runs over and gives her a hug, cutting off my hug, and starting rambling nonsense.

"Sometimes you have to let people serve you, you have to let us receive blessings." Well, Andy, let me tell you, she is not crying about that. For a fact, she's crying about her horses that will be put to death. And I actually could relate to her, and knew how to comfort her. But due to Andy, I missed my chance.

The whole situation to me was a mess. To some of you, this may not seem like a big deal, but we were serving someone in need, you don't complain while you serve, or it doesn't make it service, it makes it a chore. But kind. Even if, yes the house is a mess, the dogs smell bad, the mice are terrible.

To me, I was horrified. I can't believe people would be so cruel to her. Even if some of it was behind her back. Oh I know she heard some of it. To me, we should be serving, be doing every day tasks as Jesus Christ would. We need to love every one and not judge. Treat people like you want to be treated, act as if Christ was by your side.

I challenge anyone who reads this, to go out and serve with a joyful heart and mind. Comfort those in need, and do it without complaining. You may be grossed out for the time being, but just imagine the joy on that person's face, how grateful they'll be. Go serve. Be the example in your community.

Ok, now that I've gotten that off my chest. Sorry, I was just really flustered. This literally all happened two hours ago. Anyway, thanks for letting me rant.