The Sacrifices Women Make - From Left to Write - The Little Paris Bookshop

Before you begin reading this post I need to clarify that I am writing strictly from the woman's point of view. I'm not saying only women make sacrifices, but writing only about the sacrifices that I have seen women make.

Disclosure: This post was inspired by the novel The Little Paris Bookshop by Nina George, where Monsieur Perdu--a literary apothecary--finally searches for the woman who left him many years ago.. Join From Left to Write on October 8th as we discuss The Little Paris Bookshop. As a member, I received a copy of the book for review purposes.

We all know that women are strong, strong willed, and stubborn. I know this as a fact because that describes me. Those three attributes are not always considered to be an attractive or needed quality for a woman. We're the weaker sex, we should be submissive, quiet, recalcitrant. As women we sometimes fake those attributes in order to survive and prosper in this world.

This post was going to be about all the great things that women do for others, especially their children, but I deleted everything I had written after this because today I read something that really brought home the strength and courage of a woman and I think a lot of what is in that women is in all of us.

On Facebook, I follow HUMANS OF NEW YORK or HONY. HONY was started in 2010 by a fellow named Brandon who thought it would be cool to start photographing people in the streets of New York. He was going to photograph 10,000 people and plot their photos on a map.

Brandon didn't know what he had started, never dreamed where he would go, never imagined what HONY would mean to his life and the life of the over 10 million followers that he has worldwide! 

He's traveled and documented photos all over the world. Photos that make us laugh and photos that make us cry. Photos that prompt us to realize that we can make a difference in someones life other than our own. 

Currently Brandon is sharing his Humans of New York Refugee Stories. During a time when our country is horribly divided because of refugees here in our own country, he is showing us why refugees and immigrants seek to escape the countries they come from. It's gut wrenching and the photos and stories are not for the faint of heart, even the toughest of people read these stories and look at these pictures with tears in their eyes. 

The photo that I want to share today and the story that goes with it shows just how strong women are, how selfless, how protective.

Here is the story that goes with it...

This mother, this woman...the heartbreak she must have endured to send her beloved child out alone in the world. How does she sleep at night. How does she eat even a morsel of food knowing that her child is out there and not knowing if he is eating? I can't even imagine!

But she didn't think of herself, she thought only of him and of saving him. So many women do the same thing. 

In the book The Little Paris Bookshop, Manon, the love interest of Jean Perdu becomes pregnant while ill with Cancer and she doesn't tell anyone until it is too late to make a difference. She died so her daughter could live. 

Woman may be strong, strong willed and stubborn because it's the attributes we need to face the challenges that life brings so us. 

      

Humans of New York - Can I just say WOW!

It's Saturday morning. I'm not feeling too great so I've decided to spend the day in bed, reading, watching movies, blogging and checking up with facebook. Am I glad I did! I ran into one of the most entertaining, interesting, amazing, uplifting...wow, I just can't come up with enough adjectives to describe the facebook page/blog called Humans of New York!

I am obsessed by the photos and the stories! This guy named Brandon in 2010 decided he was going to take 10,000 photos of random people in New York to post on a blog. Here's a short video describing why he decided to do this and where it took him. He tells the story much better than I could, because it's his story.



What a laugh this guy Brandon has! Right? I would love to meet him, he seems like such an amazing person and I love what he's done and his facebook page. 

I haven't seen all of his photos yet, but this one truly touched my soul and reminded me of my dad who passed away last year in July. 

Photo Credit - Humans of New York - facebook

Next to each photo Brandon types a snippet of the conversation he has with these people. What struck him as most important about his conversation with this man was this:

"I came from Mexico."

"Why'd you come?"

"Everybody comes for the money."

"Were you scared?"

"Everybody's scared."

I think of the stories that my dad would share with us about his struggles in coming to the United States from Mexico. How scared he was and how he many times had to sleep on trains, like a Hobo and how cold it was and how many times immigration captured him and sent him back to Mexico and he had to struggle to come back to the United States. I remember him telling us of nights he spent sleeping on the desert floor and hearing the sound of the coyotes in the dark and how they frightened him. 

And he did it all for love. Love of his mother and brothers and sisters still in Mexico. He wanted to make their lives better and send them money so they could survive.

Love for his future wife and children, so he could build a life in the United States where he knew that because of him they would have a better life than the one he had and struggled to leave behind in Mexico.

What Brandon is doing by putting these photos out there to move and touch us, to remind us of the humanity and innate goodness of people is just so inspirational. People like Brandon should be celebrated, he should have an Olympic Gold Medal for his excellence in his chosen sport!