Two blog posts in one day, must be a special day!
I had a very touching moment last week I’d like to share with you all. One of the wonderful students I have come to love and adore is Carlitos, a student at UCLA. He has opened his heart to me and wonderful ways since I met him last fall. I had seen on facebook about two weeks ago a notice that his phone no longer worked well. The screen had completely stopped working so he could no longer make outgoing calls or read or send texts. He has a dumb phone like myself (sorry that’s what I call my non-smart phone that works quite well but since it isn’t smart I call it a dumb phone). I had meant to offer him my old phone though it isn’t ideal, the earpiece stopped working and only operates with speaker phone. Well last week he sent out a message on facebook that he had a new phone but has lost all of his contacts, so to please send him a text or email with your number. I sent him an email and we soon started texting each other. I said joyfully, so I see you got a new phone. He then told me about how he was talking to his mother and just explaining about his phone when his mother said go get a new phone. His mother who works very hard but struggles to make ends meet wanted to make sure her son had a new phone. So Carlitos took a risk like he does every time he uses public transportation and traveled home (taking much longer than it should with the great public transit Southern California has) to get money from his mom to buy a new phone so he could call people. His mother’s generosity is a reminder of how much immigrants in this country struggle to provide for things I take for granted. If my phone suddenly stopped working and I didn’t have the funds to buy a new one my parents would easily give me money. Yes they work hard for their money but they have jobs that pay decent wages, jobs that have allowed them to save for my sister and I to attend college, jobs that provide them with benefits and food on the table and even the ability to travel. Carlitos’ mom works just as hard if not harder than my own mother to provide the basic necessities for her babies. The sacrifice she made to give her son a new phone touches my heart and soul. Carlitos himself is incredibly touched by his mother’s generosity. He told me he plans to take care of this phone like nothing else, its not just a phone but a symbol of the sacrifice his mother makes on a daily basis. It is stories like these that remind me of why the work I do is important, why the church needs to recognize the humanity of all people, including immigrants and that so many parents just want to provide for their families and their babies, just like my parents were able to do.
