In a segment of the biography I am reading about Audrey Hepburn (which I discussed in a previous entry) a touching story was told. Audrey used to do work in Somalia for Unicef with children. In one particular story about her journey to Somalia Audrey finds herself standing in a room full of starving children waiting in line to get one of their first meals in days. As Audrey observes the line she recognizes the angst of the children as they get closer and closer to their turn. Food is a rarety (sp check?!) for these children, so waiting in that line is torture, but in the end rewarding. Audrey then notices one little girl in particular. Thin to the bone like the rest of course, but she's different in one way... She instead of eagerly looking ahead of the line is gazing at Audrey. It was apparent that the little girl had earlier seen Audrey showing affection and care towards the other children. Which is something else that the Somalian children had been starving from... lack of affection. As the line grew shorter, and the little girls gaze darted back and forth between her approaching meal and Audrey she seemed to get more anxious, as if she had a big decision to make. When it came to be that the little girl was next in line she ran out of the line and latched onto Audrey as Audrey simply held her...
Hm well I guess here's the point where I tell you what I got from this story. I think it's pretty evident where I am going with this. What I got from this is the importance of the need for affection. The fact that a little girl who was basically wasting away with each passing moment due to starvation chose to be merely held rather than get her meal just goes to prove that we all just need a little love. We all may not be huggers, PDA approving, or openly affectionate people. But something tells me that we all just want to be loved, to feel appreciated, to be cared for. You can sit here and disagree, you can currently hate the idea of love in any way shape or form, and you can deny that you need anyones affection. But in the end can you really tell me that you could deal with being completely alone, without affection from friends, family, or a significant other? Think about it real hard... That little girl did, and look what it came down to. I guess what she saw is that even though that food was there, she could have to go days or weeks without eating again, but she could have to go forever without having someone hold her and comfort her. I guess I could relate to this little girl in a way. Even though her and I are from two completely different worlds I really don't think I could pass up the opportunity to be cared for and loved... because God knows it could be our last opportunity. It's amazing how universal love is.
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