The Real World...

...is definitely not shown on MTV. We when first moved to Brazil, I thought this would be a great experience for the boys - new language, new country, new customs. But, they are also getting an education on the real world.

Living in the Midwest is very different than here. So is parts of South Florida where we also lived. People have cars and nice houses, and you can walk to the grocery store and be safe. You are more isolated in those places than here. You see things on the news, but those bad things happen some place else to someone else.

In Brazil, on the news, you will see shooting with the police, or major drug busts with the police holding machine guns next to the loot. You will also see pictures in the newspapers about shootouts in Rio, or the flooding in the northern part of the country. The newspaper recently recapped events of last year with pictures - the Afghan girl who was on the cover of Time Magazine (?) who had her nose and ears cut off by her husband; Haiti and the disposal of dead bodies in mass graves; people shooting each other.

We also have seen firsthand people smoking crack on the street, or very hungry people looking for food in the garbage cans along the side of the road, and eating whatever they can find. Homeless people looking for scrap metal that they can sell. People begging on the street. Not far from where we live there are people who live in boxes along the side of the highway.

These are not the things I expected to have my young children exposed to at an early age. But if not now, when? They see what they have, and then they see how other people have to live. They realize how lucky they are to have things - even simple things like a roof over their heads and food in their bellies. Where their concern is what they will have for a snack, not when and from where their next meal come.

My hope is that as they grow up, they will remember what they have seen and experienced here; that they will understand the importance of helping others and giving to those in need. The world is not as large as it seems, and everyone needs to do their part in making it a better place.