Stephany Garza
Bio
I’ve been writing for as long as I can remember. Conveying thoughts and emotions on paper have always been a talent of mine.
Stories (3)
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Peace & Prosperity for All
When I was little my Grandmother used to sit and imagine what my life would be like. She’d ask me, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” followed by, “How many children do you want to have?” down to what I’d name my future kids. Even as a little girl I knew whatever I did it would be helping children. Whether it was teaching in a classroom or saving orphans without parents. Naively I’d tell her, “I’m going to adopt all of the orphans and put them in a mansion filled with toys!”. It sounds a lot like something Michael Jackson might say, except less creepy coming from a kid. Oddly enough, we didn’t have orphanages in the U. S. so the fact that I was aware of their existence in the world seems strange to me now considering my tender age then. Fast forward two decades and helping abused and neglected children became my reality. Something lit inside of me like the strike of a match. My passion awoke and I became hungry to help those who fell victim to bad parenting. Sadly, not all I’d come across met that stereotype. Some children truly had circumstances out of anyone’s control, parents dying due to illness or freak accidents. I would come to know orphans in a different way than I’d once imagined. I would learn what it meant to spend quality time with a child as I sat and listened to their stories or played games on their foster home floor. My passion is helping each of those children through advocacy. Ensuring their needs are met, voices heard. Making sure they don’t fall through the cracks of broken systems not meant to keep children through adulthood. I’d learn that there’s not enough good homes, not enough good foster parents and even worse, not enough training to help children overcome abuse and trauma. Sadly, there’s a vicious cycle of layering on trauma after trauma for those most difficult (traumatized, abused and neglected) children when placements or families are ill equipped to care for them. How do you monetize simply helping others? Any income earned would be an investment in society. It is proven that youth who have at least one healthy and positive connection are more likely to graduate high school, refrain from drugs, violence and criminal activity as well as have healthier relationships. When children grow up to be healthy people, society reaps the benefits. You have more productive humans doing good and contributing to their communities. For numbers sake, it is statistically proven that better outcomes occur when there is investments made in a youths rearing. That’s why you should care. It doesn’t matter that you may not want children or your not a kid person. Some may think it’s not their problem or even easier, out of sight out of mind. The harsh reality is that is a false narrative. It matters because each of our failure to address the ugly reality that is abuse and neglect negatively impacts our society and our experience within it. It becomes this cyclical toxic seed spreading through generations and the reach of that toxicity is vastly greater than you’d imagine. Healthy people unafflicted by this issue then fall victim to the aftermath of someone’s addiction or crimes they commit in society. For the sake of ensuring everyone’s aware, nobody is born innately bad. In order to become a bad person, bad things have to happen somewhere down the line. Most people fall victim to something unpleasant or unimaginable and it changes them. So what is the catalyst for change in this case? Doing something! Anything! Advocacy for crying out loud. You capitalize on an educated society. When your investment in human beings, innocent children comes to fruition, there is less crime, less poverty. You live in a more cohesive and healthy society. Doesn’t it sound dreamy? Imagine a society with little to no crime or poverty. It’s 100% possible! We live in a country where education is a requirement, where wealth is exponential. There is no reason to continue in the same patterns of the past. When you stop cycles of abuse, neglect, poverty, drug use, it ends. You have to go to the core and fix it. That happens by educating society and creating safer places for children to heal and learn to overcome vs deal with the cards they’ve been dealt. You capitalize on the initial investment when you see the reduction of crime and increase in good health and prosperity amongst society. It’s literally a win-win for everyone! Deeper than my passion for helping those in the U. S. a place with unlimited resources at our fingertips, is my passion for helping orphans and fellow humans in Africa. It’s sadly a place where so many people are displaced due to war and famine. We are living in a time where there is no excuse for hunger and starvation. Every person on this planet should have access to food. We live in a time of scientific advancement, people should have access to medicine for crying out loud! Children shouldn’t be fleeing war alone after watching their entire families slain in the name of extremist groups. Sadly, it’s their reality. It’s our reality. It is happening. I want it to stop. I’m just a person. I’m a person deeply afflicted by the lack of in Africa and the abundance of violence and orphaned children that exisits there. Dare I apply the same thought process to these issues? Do I have to say it again? When we invest in the fellow human we have better outcomes for everyone! This issue is not subjective. We are all human beings experiencing the suffering of others in one way or another. Why? Why do we allow it to continue? Isn’t that the purpose of history lessons? To teach us to make better decisions, to change. It’s obvious at this point, I have a lot of feelings about this. It would be way easier to invest in something more tangible, like a passion of building race cars for children with disabilities and that would be a worthy cause, but I’m talking about changing human existence as we know it. Altering the human experience. Peace and prosperity amongst masses. Removing and healing generational wounds and creating healthier societies amongst the human race. My passion is helping those who cannot help themselves which in turn, helps all of us. I hope you get it. I hope you understand and you won’t say it’s too big of an issue or, wow! that was heavy. It is. These are people we are talking about. They are all vulnerable people and they are all around you. We have to do something different. We have to take that history lesson seriously. It’s time to change the way things have been done in order to stop having the same issues decade after decade. I hope I lit a match for you. I hope you carefully consider these issues. I hope these words become a catalyst for change in an unimaginable but totally possible way. We can change lives together. We just have to care enough about ourselves and others. Look at that, we even get to be selfish. If I have to remind you, it’s because when we invest in others we enhance things for ourselves. Clearly not my motive, but hey, maybe it’s yours. Care. Just do it. Be a good person. Help the children. Help our fellow men and women. Take action.
By Stephany Garza5 years ago in Humans
Array
Blue, the color of the ocean or is it black? It’s the void in my soul where you once existed. Yet it’s light and airy, a reminder that life goes on, that letting go and forgiving provides freedom. It’s the birds floating through the sky, clouds hanging in the air. It’s the blanket of comfort wrapped around the earth so we can breathe.
By Stephany Garza5 years ago in Poets
