FOODFORTHOUGHT

The Internet is often labeled as a faceless domain that separates users
from the real world and isolates them in chat rooms. To bend the
Microsoft ad a bit, "That's not where I went today."

Today, I went to the Philippines. It was not the trip I had planned to
take. All I had on my cyber menu was to check my E-mail.

A young woman living in Mandaue City on the Island of Cebu in the
Philippines read a piece of mine that talked about having my third
child. Although she has no children of her own, she wanted to write to
me in kind and so sent the following E-mail letter with children as
the focus:

"Kumusta (how are you) and the incoming baby?" Aileen wrote. "Last
night a co-lodger brought two of our street's children to visit.
Street's children - the term we use for children who are wandering
around the street begging for food or money," she went on to casually
explain. "He gave them food, a bath and I gave them old blouses. And
their stay with us was good for one night only. Early this morning
they went back to their home - the street," she wrote. "There are a
lot of them roaming around the city."

Well, I suppose it could pass for the surreal tag given the Net. As
for being faceless, I began to see a very clear picture of those
roaming the streets of Mandaue. She was talking about children the way
we discuss stray cats or raccoons that get into the trash. But, in
America even the animals have shelters.

Instead Aileen wrote, "The orphanage here refuse to adopt them since
they are already overcrowded. Then how about the funds, where are they
going to get it? The orphanage lack financial support."

Her letter noted that the children ranged in age from two to ten years
old. She ends saying, "It is one of the problems here in the
Philippines. When I saw them, I felt how blessed I am."

After reading her E-mail I felt how blessed are we all, here in the
scandal ridden, surplus burdened, Y2K fretting land. Here at least the
children on our street are not street children. When they are we have
resources to aid them.

Also, it made me want to do more than just shrug off the criticisms of
the Net. It's not as frivolous or impersonal as it was before I
clicked on the Pandora's box in the form of the flashing postal icon.
One connection raised the level of my respect for the often
not-so-Super-Highway.

It's not the Internet you use; it's the message it carries.

PRAYER
"Father in heaven, you have given me a mind to know you, a will to serve you, and a heart to love you. Give me today the grace and strength to embrace your holy will and fill my heart and mind with your truth and love that all my intentions and actions may be pleasing to you. Help me to be kind and forgiving towards my neighbor as you have been towards me."

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