Putting it all into perspective...

After Carnevale, we took a train down to Bologna, where frankly there wasn't much to see, then went to Modena/Maranello so Rob could visit the Ferrari factory museum there. It was minimally interesting; I'm just not that much of a car junkie to get really excited over it. But it was nice seeing some smaller, more off-the-beaten-trail Italian towns, anyway. The weather was really dreary though - rain, rain, drizzle, rain...

What I really wanted to write about here was this little photographic exposition we chanced upon in an Italian library (while looking for a bathroom!) in Modena. The display was done by a local guy who'd been to Afghanistan with the Red Cross in the early '90's. There were many fascinating pictures, but one that just riveted me was of a 12-year-old girl with scar tissue ALL OVER her body. Since it's not elastic, it had pulled apart where her armpits should have been. It looked SO INCREDIBLY PAINFUL, and just thinking about how that poor girl would be affected for the rest of her life (her face hadn't been burned but that was about it) was making me feel so bad for her...

And then I read the caption.

'This girl has been in the hospital for 10 months undergoing extensive grafts and will soon be released to live a 'normal' life. She said she didn't mind her time in the hospital since it was the first time in her life that she had slept in a real bed.'

OH. MY. GOD.

Boy did that perspective put my complaining to shame. There is just no reponse to something like that. I stood there and stared at that picture and her words for a long, long time and said a prayer that God would be with this very special young lady and ease her path through life.