#deperation

It was hot in the Indian sunlight although it was early December. The students were sitting exams in stuffy classrooms where the ceiling fans whirred like dying insects. The rooms had a teacher’s desk raised above the level of the pupils. Girls bent over their papers, writing frantically. Every so often, a hand would shoot up for another sheet. Sitting at the high desk, I noticed that every time…

Are you the kind of person who always has a project going on? Are you the kind of person who desperately wants to change the world for the better, but has no idea how? Are you the kind of person who likes long tumblr stories? Then this is for you:

Around the turn of the 2010s, I had an idea. I've always believed that any problem you can identify, you can solve. I thought maybe we needed a way to connect people who need help with people who can help. Thus, the Helping Hands Bulletin Board was born. This was, as you might expect, a bulletin board. People could post for help or post offering their talents. There were rules about not posting unsafe information and not charging for your services, but the idea was a simple one. I don't claim to be the first person to ever have this admittedly very simple idea, but such resources were lacking in my community...and I soon found out why.

The attempt to find a place to put up the first board was deeply disheartening. I asked at church first, because we often talked about stewardship. I was told my idea would get people killed. "No" would have sufficed, but here's to Catholic guilt. The same person who told me this would proceed to go off in his homilies about how "no one wants to help anyone anymore, and we should put ourselves out there." To this day, I cannot reconcile the contradiction.

Anyway, I was able to find 1 place: the hallway of the local reserve base's Family Support Center. My sister helped me put the sign up, which lasted all two weeks before being tucked away in an office somewhere. As far as I can tell, nobody posted.

The upside is that someone saw this board and asked to put one up in his church. I put together the supplies and my dad gave them to him. I hope the project is going well, but have no way of finding out. Whoever you are, sir, I wish you well. :)

“Don’t ask me that, love. Just know that I do.” Her lover’s response seemed light, but there was a command behind the words. She couldn’t follow it though. She had been loved for centuries by the worlds most inxicating men, but none of them had the faintest idea why they craved her skin so much. It was her gift but she hated it. To be loved beyond bounds for absolutely no reason. Not for the sound of her voice, or her dark humor, not even for beauty. She was just loved, and it was starting to destroy her.

“Give me a reason. People love for reasons. Why do you love me?” She did not fight to hide her emotions this time. Her heart hammered in her chest and her eyes became blurry. But despite her desperation, only a simple reply was given.