I'll Stand by You.

Currently traveling in The Sahara and the bordering villages to Algeria, I have been driving through the poor south of Morocco.

In my shallowness, I often find that I need to put myself in the midst of the misery to understand the pain others go through in order to become angry enough to get up and do something about it.

I am a bit ashamed to admit that someone telling me the sad facts is not enough for me to leave my own materialistic concerns and really change my priorities. If I don't see the pain in their eyes and feel those shattered dreams, I tend to shove it under the carpet with the rest of the nasty stuff going on in this world, worrying more about the size of my derriere and which new stilettos to buy matching my silk scarf.

Driving through one of these small villages, the kids already trying drugs from 6 years of age and many not having their parents anymore, I just wanted to grab them with me like the kittens abandoned in the trash cans.

These are kids that don't cry over spilled milk, they just lick their wounds and get up and move on. Struggling for their fair share in life. They don't feel sorry for themselves. All they need is someone to give them a chance in life. A small push out of those dusty back alleys. All they really want is someone to say they'll stand by them. That they'll be there for them when no one else believes in them.

Someone like you, who says those words that matter the most of all...

I'll Stand By You.

Stand by me when everything crumbles and falls. Stand by me when no one believes in me, not even I. Stand by me through my worst hour. Stand by me in spite of me.

Do you remember those skyscraper dreams when you were a kid? Do you remember those hopes and the feeling of immortality - that the sky is the limit.

Every kid out there deserves to have them and someone who'll give them the opportunity to get there if they want it bad enough.
And so I decided, I will stand by these kids. I will be back for them. I will.