Sitting Alone

Pray for the kid sitting alone at the lunch table. He is now sitting alone at home.

I’m sure the pantry is empty too.

It’s no surprise the stay at home orders across the world have led to an increase in domestic violence and molestation. Obviously, with mass unemployment – hunger also increases. Things that severely change the course of life and mental state for the victims.

If they survive.

Maybe it is better to sit alone.

There was a girl in Middle School who always sat alone. I still think about her some twenty plus years later. I ran into her recently and realized she had made it. She was clean and smiling. I still remembered her name. And she still knew mine. She was still shy and I am still goofy.

I left smiling.

Middle School was rough. Bullying was part of the class schedule. I was overly tall, skinny, and wore clearance clothes. Oh, and goofy.

There would be an empty table and then there would be another table, occupied by one. I would sit at her table on occasion. Not because I am a saint. Trust me I’ve taken more than I’ve given in this life. There were two choices, and I selfishly did not want to sit alone.

She didn’t talk much, but I talked enough for the both of us. She would laugh on occasion because she too found me goofy. Honestly, I’m just gifted in this area.

On my way to lunch one day, another classmate notified me about the girl I ate lunch with. I was told about her addict parents, her mobile home, and how she was always dirty. I still sat next to her. She didn’t care what I was wearing or what I looked like. I liked her.

I’d give her the food I didn’t want. Except on pizza day, she was out of luck. I’d offer her my entrée on meat surprise day, but she politely refused. You didn’t even have to enter the cafeteria to know it was meat surprise day. The smell made its way through the halls. I never did find out what the blue specks were in the meat, let alone what animals the meat came from. I guess that’s why it was called “surprise!”

Everyone fasted and prayed on this day.

We graduated from Middle School and I never did see her around High School. I left High School halfway through freshmen year, so that could have been why.

But twenty something years later I had ran into her. She had survived. And it made my day.

So we need to fold our hands and pray for the victims and the survivors. We need to pray to run into more survivors who made it.

As the world is consumed with the virus, let’s pray for the kids sitting alone. Pray for full bellies and warm beds. Let’s send up our pleas for the battered women and children. Let us not forget the ones who get their innocence stolen.

Continue to cry out for justice for all evils.

Don't let a virus steal all of your prayers.

Because evil does not fear a pandemic.

Evil does not stop when the world is told to stop.

Evil happens within four walls the same as it does in a dark alley.