Beauty to darkness and back

After the beauty that was yesterday, at night 4am, having just dropped to sleep, got a call to say we were needed to help a girl in the west end.. being on call and bleary eyed, Katrina and i headed into the centre. We got there 20 minutes later to find she had just gone with some guys helping her. We set off looking for her and instead were directed to another girl, who had been raped in door way and left half naked, a worker had found her and was helping and had already assisted by getting a lift organised. we set off again looking for the other girl to find a big crowd, in the middle was a guy face down with a pool of blood. There had been a fight and so we assisted calming people down and providing tissues. the police soon arrived and called for a medic, by this time the guy had come round and was talking and ok. Again we walked on and saw others we could help, most helped by friends and were okay. we ended up chatting to workers until 6am which was great. Whilst our original call did not work out, our presence at a dark moment was i feel needed.
I am alarmed by the truth of what sometimes happens here. Without wanting to alarm you This week i have encountered and heard true reports from the past weeks here in San An of a girl raped, as two guys tried to intervene the attacker stabbed the girl and ran off. Another worker had to leave having been gang raped by some other guys. The other night as probably every night a drunk guy was robbed as he lay on the pavement. A guy died after taking 7 ecstasy tablets and 9 the night before. We also encountered a guy who was o drunk he had eaten half his dirty flip flop!! (My prayer and compassion go out to them and their loved ones.)
Today we went to a beautiful beach, hang out with friends and appreciated the beautiful idyllic waters of the Mediterranean.

Thought for the day
I was, at 3 am last night, questioning why i have the compulsion to always tell people that their savory snacks have MSG Mono Sodium Glutamate) in them. I think i arrived at the answer that it is my desire for people to know the truth.
This kind of comment can produce different responses in people. Some react ' i don't wish to know that' ' i was enjoying those until you told me that'. Others may say " really" and just carry on happily eating.

Truth is something i am reading about in Jeremy Mark's new book 'Exchanging the truth for a lie (a journey on the subject of Homosexuality and same sex partnerships). i hope to add some thought on this in coming weeks. But for now back to the crisps...

Interesting to think about those above responses and maybe relate them to how we encounter truth people share with us. Which response has the most integrity? the one that says i will carry on regardless or the other that says i was happy in my blissful ignorance (to put it bluntly)... I believe in informed choice and all i want to say is Well done Hula Hoops for putting 'No MSG' on your packs and shame on you Doritos, Pringles, Frazzles and smith's square crisps... your time will come!!

I think my question to people is usually " Do you Know?', or 'have you heard that...?' Not 'Do you want to know?' I like to speak the truth sometimes weather people want it or not (and i hope it is motivated by genuine concern or Love and i hope i don't force my little comments on people at inopportune or untimely moments.)
Learning together can be beautiful if we are open.

I am open to learning many more Truths...