I just read the first of five stories in "Say You're One of Them" by Uwem Akpan, Oprah's current book club selection. The first story, entitled "An Ex-mas Feast," takes place on the streets of Nairobi. Akpan wrote of streets I walked down and smells I smelled and places I knew, people I saw there, people who spoke words I heard, and people who spoke words I spoke there. Though he wrote fiction, he wrote a story typical of so many dear desperate people there--people I knew personally. But I saw and heard and knew those people from my perspective, and I could only barely imagine what their lives were really like. Akpan gave me an altogether difference glimpse into such people's daily lives and the way they think and what some of them do out of desperation. When we lived there, my heart reeled at the urgency of so many millions of people's needs. Reading this story, my heart reels anew. My heart is heavy right now. I'm sure I need to take time to think this through.