If You Don't Climb the Mountain, You Can't See the View
I love the mountains! Because of this known love, a dear friend gave me a piece of wall art that says: "If you don't climb the mountains, you can't see the view". How simple, and true. But so many of our children in our foster care system in South Carolina and around the nation have a "Mountain" of circumstances they never asked for and do not deserve. I would like to introduce you to one such young lady, who is talented beyond what would be achieved or gleaned for the adults in her life who she was left to 13 years old in a Julia began climbing her mountains....you know, the one so enormous for her at that age, ills she entered the foster care system for the first time when she was 6 years old....for the second time when she was 9 years old, and for the third and final time in March, 2019 what she was 11 years old Anyone who has ever hiked in the mountains, know the trails are often steep, narrow, and riddled with roots, stones, creek beds and sticky relentless. They can also be marked with beauty and peace, a reward for a brief time. Julia climb to the top of her mountain has not been easy. Julias poem, that you will read below, highlights the challenges and obstacles she has faced along her journey, that for many, would cause them to believe as a donkey will at times believe on a trail....sit down and refuse to move. Let me tell you, Julia is no donkey!
Today, Julia reached the pinnacle of her mountain climb. After 1,182 days in the foster care mountain trail (or three years, two months, and 26 days) Julia was adopted. Her definition of "home" (as changed as you will see in her poignant poem). I urge you to read her poem completely. In the judges words, "poems touch the heart and this one much touch mine in such a way that I could almost not conduct this hearing".
Julia is not an immigrant child being detained on the border. There is no political and/or public outcry on her behalf or the over 400,000 children like her still languishing in our foster care system. But... those children who have been "detained" by a welfare system DESERVE our attention, our help, a "Home", a stable family, and they deserve this swiftly... three years... an eternity to a child.
Home.
Isn't that the word that everyone knows?
They know it means comfort and love
But the only word that I knew
Growing up
Was suicide,
And how to end your life,
My mother tried right in front of me,
She threw the cord right over the bar on the swing
And made us watch as she stuck her head through
The noose and hung there.
I was five, I cried, I didn't know what to do,
I begged her to get down, but she wouldn't move,
My sister ran to get the landlord and
He came over and cut her down with what looked like a sword,
But it wasn't,
My mind was corrupted, right at that moment,
I thought to myself,
"It's all my fault".
But I've found a new family,
A home.
The word that everyone knows,
The word that means comfort and love,
That makes me feel whole again,
I love them as well.
There is no point in hiding what I'm not good at hiding,
My sadness.
They see through it,
Through the lies and the pointless deception.
But now, I can safely say,
That I am okay,
That I am happy with the life I have,
No more running from the
Fear that was once haunting me.
I am better,
And now,
I am home.
I thank the foster parents for their commitment to Julia, the three little children they have adopted, and the more than 40 foster children they have served as they have climbed their own personal mountains.
*Side note: Julia is a talented musician and artist. While awaiting to meet with me, she occupied herself by drawing on a napkin. This is her drawing.
