Some thoughts

I'm sitting outside in La Grange, Texas with Christy and Sheryl's 47 dogs...ok, maybe not that many...maybe only 39. It rained cats and dogs last night...ok, maybe only dogs...but it's sunny now, albeit windy. We spent the last week on a cruise ship, touring the Caribbean. The first night and day at sea had us questioning what the hell we were thinking, as we rode out Hurricane Ida. I get motion sickness very easily, so I was ready to go home even before we left New Orleans. Now I'm glad I went. The seas got calmer and I gained a new experience and a new perspective. I've seen poverty in this country and I've seen television reports on poverty in other countries, but seeing it up close and in person was sobering, in spite of the free tequila samples. When we walked through a small fishing village in Costa Maya, we were offered a room, and all we could eat and drink for $25 per day. When
we walked into Roatan, we were swarmed by cab drivers, tour guides and children, all trying to make a living for their families. The woman in the port area told us to walk out of the gate and turn right. She also said there would be people there trying to sell us things, but not to be scared. I had no idea...scared doesn't describe what I felt. There was fear involved, but I also felt shame in my privileged life. I've never had to live in nothing more than a shack and cook my meals on an open fire. I've never had to wonder whether I would have enough to feed my family. The kids were the hardest ones to turn away. If only I had a dollar to give every one of them. I wondered what it would have been like to spend my summer vacations asking people on the street for money. I also saw more stray dogs than I could count. Most of the males had not been neutered and most of the females looked
like they had just had a litter of puppies. Several had open sores or they hopped along, favoring one paw.

There we were walking off of this gigantic cruise ship with our expensive cameras and our Western privilege. I was happy to see that the Sweet (www.discoversweet.com) staff had organized several community projects in all of our ports, in an attempt to make a difference in the communities and in the lives of the people living in them. It may not seem like much on a grand scale, but every ripple in the water makes a difference, and Sweet definitely made its share of ripples...and I'm not talking about the ones made by the Norweigan Spirit.

I send a heartfelt thanks out to Shannon Wentworth and all the Sweet crew for all their hard work and for providing us with an unforgettable experience. That's a big part of what life is all about, isn't it?

Peace on ya.