Tuesday, December 16, 2008
We asked our boys and girls to write down their thoughts about how others pushed them very hard to do something they did not want to do and they got better. We share those stories with you that they may be a motivator for you, as well.
1. I am going to tell you something I never told anyone. I did not want to come to Boys Town because I always thought bad about this place. I thought the Family-Teachers would be jealous and judgmental and they would make fun of us for being here. I was scared of just coming here because my neighbors would say I was a bad girl. But I have changed my mind. It is a good way to learn new things. Yes, there are people who watch you day and night here, but they are just there to make sure you are doing what you are supposed to do and not faking it to make it. What I have learned here is that I am special in my own way. I have learned to be grateful for how I am cared about here. I am grateful for a lot of integrity…Melissa
2. I am 13 years old and I am still afraid of the dark. I do not want to take the trash out at night. I think someone is going to pop out of the bushes when my back is turned and hurt me again. I remember one night here a car came up beside me when I was taking out the trash and I was scared out of my pants. I wanted to run. I thought the car was going to kidnap me. (I had no clue why I thought this because I was at Boys Town and I know this place is safe.) I only knew I was scared. I was crying uncontrollably. To this day, I remember how scared I was. Now that I have been at Boys Town a long time, I am glad that I don’t have to be afraid…Anna
3. After being here for a while, I became more open to help that my Family-Teachers were willing to give me. They made me feel welcomed and cared for. They worked with me and my family. I began to do what I thought was impossible for me. I began to change. I began to learn. I began to study. I began to become a better person, a better daughter. I learned that I was not in control, that I was just a child. I learned that God has a bigger plan for my life than I had for myself. He sent me here for a reason and I needed to follow the Lord…Kortnie
4. When I was told I was going to Boys Town, I freaked out. By this time, I went through a phase called “I don’t care anymore.” So I was running away and doing things I wasn’t suppose to be doing. I was put in a program by Sarpy County Court System. It was called C.A.R.E. aka house arrest. I wasn’t following the rules. When I was told that I had a choice of either going to Geneva or Boys Town, some of the other kids in jail had been to Boys Town and told me it was the best thing they had ever done in their life and they were sorry they messed up. That’s why I came…Emma
5. At Boys Town at first I went to church and would sit with adults and catch a few words of the sermon, not many, but I still continued to go. As I kept going, I began to be able to sit still in church and soon I began to think more about God and what He meant to me. I realized that after I left church no matter how cloudy the day or how hot or how cold, I would feel good and clean as if I had just given my soul a shower. There are still days when I am down but if I can just catch a half hour of prayer, I feel so much better…Sharaya
6. Something I didn’t want to do was live in a house full of females as harsh as it may seem. Living with five other girls…we were all from different places. I really thought it would be a piece of cake. Wrongo! I realized after the first month it was not going to be easy and that my patience was being tried a lot. The other girls knew it was hard for me to look at things from a feminine perspective because I didn’t have any sisters and I was raised around five older brothers. So I looked at things from my brothers’ perspective, a male perspective. But the girls were patient with me and have been teaching me how to get into feminine things, like a dress. I had never worn a dress until I came here. And they have been patient. In fact, I am not used to being around females. Now I am grateful for sticking with it. And I live in a house of females and I now have a feminine perspective and it feels great…Name withheld
7. My mother and I never got along. I basically hated her. I wanted nothing to do with her. I got the impression she was honestly trying to ruin my life. I would make a mistake, fail a test or miss a curfew and she would ground me. She always gave me lectures. Then one day she sent me to Boys Town. Was I ever angry at her. I hated her. I threw it in her face every time I talked to her. We had nothing to share with each other. We never tried to work out our relationship. I wanted nothing to do with her. But then this all started to change. I believe God opens our eyes and I thought I hated my mom but I discovered, through God’s help, I could not live without her. She is my life. I found things that make me proud of my mother. And now I am grateful for her…Heather
8. I have dreams to become someone important, but that doesn’t mean I am ready to become that person. Boys Town has made me realize I cannot change and I cannot fulfill these dreams unless I start becoming that person. I haven’t started yet…Name withheld.
9. There were many times in my life where I had things I did not want to do and I am grateful I did. One of them is the image of a scrawny little girl with a dirty face and tattered clothes. She timidly walked into the place I had been forced to do community service. I saw her face. I looked at her eyes and slowly became aware how much I really had in my life. I spent the whole day serving food to the homeless. I saw hundreds of people in this condition or worse. I felt nothing for them until I saw this little girl. She struck me so much like myself. The only difference was that she had not put on a facade for many years like I had. This girl had nothing. She had no food, no new clothes, no education, no family to support her. The thing that amazed me the most was after all the harshness life handed her, she still met me with a smile.
I sat with this little girl for over an hour after I had done my community service. She shared with me stories of her life and we ate and laughed. She did not seem like a little girl anymore. She had been through too much even to be perceived as small in any way. I learned so much about her. She showed me the true meaning of being grateful. She was truly my guardian angel at the moment. She showed up right when I most needed her.
I continued to find her around the shelter getting food. I brought her gift baskets and toys. When I offered a place to sleep, she slowly began to drift out of my life. One day she apologized to me for having to leave. I never saw her again and her memory is forever in my mind. I will always remember the moment of my life that was affected by this one person so much. She made me grateful for being able to give her a friend. She made me grateful for life. She made me grateful to God for putting her in my life. This experience left me with hope and purpose. I pray for her each and every day. She has meant so much to me. And it all came to me because I was doing something I never wanted to do…Elise
1. I am going to tell you something I never told anyone. I did not want to come to Boys Town because I always thought bad about this place. I thought the Family-Teachers would be jealous and judgmental and they would make fun of us for being here. I was scared of just coming here because my neighbors would say I was a bad girl. But I have changed my mind. It is a good way to learn new things. Yes, there are people who watch you day and night here, but they are just there to make sure you are doing what you are supposed to do and not faking it to make it. What I have learned here is that I am special in my own way. I have learned to be grateful for how I am cared about here. I am grateful for a lot of integrity…Melissa
2. I am 13 years old and I am still afraid of the dark. I do not want to take the trash out at night. I think someone is going to pop out of the bushes when my back is turned and hurt me again. I remember one night here a car came up beside me when I was taking out the trash and I was scared out of my pants. I wanted to run. I thought the car was going to kidnap me. (I had no clue why I thought this because I was at Boys Town and I know this place is safe.) I only knew I was scared. I was crying uncontrollably. To this day, I remember how scared I was. Now that I have been at Boys Town a long time, I am glad that I don’t have to be afraid…Anna
3. After being here for a while, I became more open to help that my Family-Teachers were willing to give me. They made me feel welcomed and cared for. They worked with me and my family. I began to do what I thought was impossible for me. I began to change. I began to learn. I began to study. I began to become a better person, a better daughter. I learned that I was not in control, that I was just a child. I learned that God has a bigger plan for my life than I had for myself. He sent me here for a reason and I needed to follow the Lord…Kortnie
4. When I was told I was going to Boys Town, I freaked out. By this time, I went through a phase called “I don’t care anymore.” So I was running away and doing things I wasn’t suppose to be doing. I was put in a program by Sarpy County Court System. It was called C.A.R.E. aka house arrest. I wasn’t following the rules. When I was told that I had a choice of either going to Geneva or Boys Town, some of the other kids in jail had been to Boys Town and told me it was the best thing they had ever done in their life and they were sorry they messed up. That’s why I came…Emma
5. At Boys Town at first I went to church and would sit with adults and catch a few words of the sermon, not many, but I still continued to go. As I kept going, I began to be able to sit still in church and soon I began to think more about God and what He meant to me. I realized that after I left church no matter how cloudy the day or how hot or how cold, I would feel good and clean as if I had just given my soul a shower. There are still days when I am down but if I can just catch a half hour of prayer, I feel so much better…Sharaya
6. Something I didn’t want to do was live in a house full of females as harsh as it may seem. Living with five other girls…we were all from different places. I really thought it would be a piece of cake. Wrongo! I realized after the first month it was not going to be easy and that my patience was being tried a lot. The other girls knew it was hard for me to look at things from a feminine perspective because I didn’t have any sisters and I was raised around five older brothers. So I looked at things from my brothers’ perspective, a male perspective. But the girls were patient with me and have been teaching me how to get into feminine things, like a dress. I had never worn a dress until I came here. And they have been patient. In fact, I am not used to being around females. Now I am grateful for sticking with it. And I live in a house of females and I now have a feminine perspective and it feels great…Name withheld
7. My mother and I never got along. I basically hated her. I wanted nothing to do with her. I got the impression she was honestly trying to ruin my life. I would make a mistake, fail a test or miss a curfew and she would ground me. She always gave me lectures. Then one day she sent me to Boys Town. Was I ever angry at her. I hated her. I threw it in her face every time I talked to her. We had nothing to share with each other. We never tried to work out our relationship. I wanted nothing to do with her. But then this all started to change. I believe God opens our eyes and I thought I hated my mom but I discovered, through God’s help, I could not live without her. She is my life. I found things that make me proud of my mother. And now I am grateful for her…Heather
8. I have dreams to become someone important, but that doesn’t mean I am ready to become that person. Boys Town has made me realize I cannot change and I cannot fulfill these dreams unless I start becoming that person. I haven’t started yet…Name withheld.
9. There were many times in my life where I had things I did not want to do and I am grateful I did. One of them is the image of a scrawny little girl with a dirty face and tattered clothes. She timidly walked into the place I had been forced to do community service. I saw her face. I looked at her eyes and slowly became aware how much I really had in my life. I spent the whole day serving food to the homeless. I saw hundreds of people in this condition or worse. I felt nothing for them until I saw this little girl. She struck me so much like myself. The only difference was that she had not put on a facade for many years like I had. This girl had nothing. She had no food, no new clothes, no education, no family to support her. The thing that amazed me the most was after all the harshness life handed her, she still met me with a smile.
I sat with this little girl for over an hour after I had done my community service. She shared with me stories of her life and we ate and laughed. She did not seem like a little girl anymore. She had been through too much even to be perceived as small in any way. I learned so much about her. She showed me the true meaning of being grateful. She was truly my guardian angel at the moment. She showed up right when I most needed her.
I continued to find her around the shelter getting food. I brought her gift baskets and toys. When I offered a place to sleep, she slowly began to drift out of my life. One day she apologized to me for having to leave. I never saw her again and her memory is forever in my mind. I will always remember the moment of my life that was affected by this one person so much. She made me grateful for being able to give her a friend. She made me grateful for life. She made me grateful to God for putting her in my life. This experience left me with hope and purpose. I pray for her each and every day. She has meant so much to me. And it all came to me because I was doing something I never wanted to do…Elise
posted by Fr. Peter | 4:40 PM
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