A Little Girl

There once was a little girl...

She sat looking out the window. She watched the sweethearts walk by and knew, even back then, that she would never have that... whatever it was. She knew she wasn't lovable.

Bobby said don't tell. It's our secret.

Daddy beat her.

Mommy forgot her.

Older sister laughed at her.

Her mirror mocked her.

Johnny said he loved her, but only after his fist blackened her eye. Tommy said the same thing, and so did Joey, James, and all the others.

The nurse said it was only tissue. The doctor didn't even look at her.

The dealer said it would make her feel better. All she had to do was sniff.

The bottle said it could solve her problems.

Pills on the floor screamed silence.

You're not pretty enough, good enough, thin enough, smart enough, funny enough, serious enough...

YOU'RE JUST NOT ENOUGH!!!!!!!!!!

She knew she was alone, and she was OK with that...

but no one told her she would cry. No one told her she could cry.

So, she didn't... not a tear.

And no one ever knew...

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This is the story of the little girl who is on your daughter's cheer-leading squad and the little boy who is the star pitcher for your son's little league team. It is also the story of the quiet math-whiz, the honor-role valedictorian, and the most popular well-liked kid at school. They know how to smile and how to convince us that they are "fine", and those who don't, refuse to say anything at all. They are quiet so as not to draw attention to the pain. After-all, that would only make it real.

Do you have "eyes to see" the un-shed tears of the invisible broken? Do you have "ears to hear" the silent cries of the "least of these"? Maybe, just maybe, if we took a little time to look and listen just a little bit closer, we might not be the ones who "[n]ever knew".