Thoughts

I had an interesting night last night. A classmate of mine from my school residency, Renee', founded a program called PID, or the Prostitute Diversion Initiative, which works in conjunction with the Dallas PD to help give prostitutes a way out of the life they are trapped in by providing them with the opportunity to attend either inpatient or outpatient treatment programs and connecting them to support resources that give them tools that allow them to change their lives. Renee' offered me the opportunity to be part of the program as a volunteer. One night a month, a central site is set up. Cops go out and round up prostitutes, mainly targeting locations such as truck stops. The women are booked, searched, and treated for possible medical issues. Then a photo ID with their name and fingerprints on it is created. Once the PD is done, they bring them over to the other part of the program, where a therapist and a social worker or psychologist are teamed up together. The therapist acts as an advocate for the prostitute and the social worker gets the information necessary to figure out if the individual is interested in treatment and if so, what level of treatment would be most appropriate. During this section, the individual is given food and water and clothes, if needed. Once that paperwork is finished, the PD takes the individual to another section, where judges hand down immediate rulings, and the individuals are either taken to treatment, to jail if they have outstanding charges, or if they are not interested in treatment and have no charges serious enough to book them on, they are driven back to the street they were picked up on.

It was quite an experience. Renee' put me in as a therapist, although it wasn't really therapy sessions as our job was not to help them deal with their problems, but to determine where they needed to go so their problems could be addressed. There was such a variety of women and stories and reactions. Some were mad at the world (and I don't blame them hearing their stories), some were embarrassed and upset, some had dead looks on their faces. One lady had several seizures; apparently she is a frequent visitor and it's a pretty common occurrence. The cops were always close by in case they were needed, and they were once or twice.

I left around midnight when things slowed down (we started at 7pm). I didn't sleep that night. The experience gave me a lot to think about. The strength of these women surprised me. I remember listening to one lady as she sat across from me. She was Rob's age. Her dad left early on, then her mom left. She had a baby at 13 and she did her best to raise her baby on her own. Even with all that, she managed to make it through 11th grade. I don't know if I could have done that. In studying to become a therapist, you study a lot about depression and suicidal thoughts. Part of the assessment was to determine if the individual was suicidal at all. The lady I've been talking about wasn't. That really struck me. Even with all the horrible cards she had been dealt and the things she had to live through, she had hope.

All day I've been noticing my blessings and wondering at the differences in circumstances. I don't think I did anything to deserve my lifestyle more than someone else deserves it. Not that we're wealthy, but we have a house, two working cars, and food. Rob has a job and I am able to stay home with our kids. Why do I end up in this life, coming home to Rob and my kids to sleep in a soft bed, and the women I saw last night end up sleeping on jail beds or on the street? Why did my kids end up living in our house, safe and taken care of, while the children of the women I saw last night live in dingy hotel rooms or apartments with their mother's pimp?

Rob says he understands where I'm coming from. He had the same thoughts watching the street kids and the mentally handicapped in Brazil.

I don't have any huge insights. I came away from it glad that at least I was doing something small to help and determined to try to do more. I came away from it grateful for the blessings in my life and in the lives of my children.