A Fight She Won't Win

Sometimes the fight feels like a hard one to win. While nothing will be perfection and progress does occur, when will the brick wall come down?  As a human being, I fight hard for people and I believe in their potential to rise despite the way the world perceives them. Sometimes people cross my path and I wonder if they are going to win the battle against a world so cold.  

When it comes to the underprivileged community abroad, there is such disregard for their being by community and governments. The government has little to no consideration about their food, education, and shelter.  Community NGOs, various local organizations, and the church advocate for their rights, but the negative perspective of  the world leaders remains the same.  When it comes to their personal struggles: alcoholism, drug addiction, poverty, and the psychological consequences-people are lost. That person with depression should get out of bed. That personal with Bipolar disorder should control their mood swings. That person with schizophrenia should put on headphones to get rid of the voices. I have to work all day and these people should too.  The hospital is there to treat them if they are sick. While I try my best to educate others by making real analogies, demonstrating internal struggles, and giving them step by step ways to assist. And it's my belief that the change is truly made one human being at a time, which keeps me going within my work. 

Although, the overall population in the world does not get it and some days traveling make it difficult to believe.  People choose to label this population-those who are underprivileged encountering mental illness as "crazy, sick, or pathetic."
When it comes to Mental Illness, it takes a person who has a personal experience with it or a mental health professional to even begin to understand. These who do have a family member or friend may be blind at first, but the time with individual becomes a learning experience. 

If it's not you're family member or friend, are you willing to take the time to learn or will you choose a label? These people are human beings with feelings, dreams, passions, creativity, love, and curiosity. They want to see the world and be a part of it just as much as the Sally with the Yale degree, the perfect job, and recent engagement. They are not given an equal, fighting chance.  When these people are seen talking to themselves on the streets, standing in line at the church for food, or crying for love and affection.  The light bulb needs to go off that these people are human.  They are human beings who deserve acknowledgment. They deserve a hello, a how are you, a question about their life and interests because they are human.  There is no reason to discard their feelings and give them a dirty look as you are superior.  This mentality will not get the US or the world anywhere.  It's the mentality and the superiority that are true barriers towards reaching significant progress. 

Each day I will keep fighting for this population because I believe in them... I always have and I always will....

                      Think before Judgment

Traveling Gypsy

The time at church in West Bay was fantastic.  We had a women's lunch that went great.  It was nice having that time to openly share and confide in one another. This was a church filled with expats(people from different countries mainly USA), which was nice to share experiences.  As far as the group, there was a girl teaching English in the Children’s home, a couple women who retired and are now volunteers, and a woman who opened a dance studio for kids.  

Some  shared some pretty personal things leading it to be a space where people were respectful and non-judgmental. When I openly shared with people said such positive things about my connecting God's spirit with my work. God has made me brave and courageous allowing me the opportunity to travel, learn, and grow.  It just does not feel like he has given me a calling to a permanent population. He has given me the ability to work with many different populations.  The actual direction seems a bit confusing. 

While everyone was receptive and supportive, there was one lady who sat and looked at me with such fascination and confusion.  She said to me, "Oh so your are a "traveling gypsy?" In these situations, I know how defensive I can be therefore, I learned to just close my mouth and say nothing.  For me, I always consider the source. This was a lady who was not well traveled, but she was a prominent lady in the church. Unfortunately, her opinion did matter to me and it did upset me. There was such praise for a girl from Wisconsin who was working an orphanage for five years.  She was perceived as a leader and a wonderful person, but I was perceived as a gypsy because I work country to country?

It truly is the lack of permanency, which is a significant problem for others. It expresses instability, inability to commit, poor time management, and lack of achievement.  For people who are used to things being programmed, it does not make sense to them. This is understandable, but to call me a gypsy is a whole different insult. When I think of gypsy, I think dishonesty, no loyalty, manipulative, beggars, and those who lie and steal. 

Someone who is a child of God, educated, traveled, cultured, intelligent, knowledgeable,  lived in wealthy areas of New York and Los Angeles, committed to several projects and changed lives-that's a gypsy? 

Clearly, this is me being defensive through my blog rather than in person, but that is such an ignorant thing to say. Priscilla CL Raj is not a gypsy and if that is what people think of me then they should go get themselves educated and travel more to see a real gypsy.  The last ones I saw were picking through the garbage in Madrid and living in the park.  

If you don't have anything nice to say, say nothing at all. -Unknown-

Think before you speak- Unknown-