Article July 21, 2003 Issue

A trip from hurt to healing

By Judith Wiltshire Benson

I used to run a small european tour company for American teenagers. During this time, I learned a lesson in the connection between seeing spiritual identity and finding healing. One year, we had a lively group of students from across the US. They shared a lot in common and showed the promise of becoming a family-like group. I was excited about their meeting one another.

A few weeks before departure, a woman talked me into including her two slightly older daughters, with one to function as a helper to me. They didn't fit the mold of other young people in the group, but the idea of more revenue was tempting, and I thought they might be able to be supportive.

Immediately into the trip, I saw that these young women were anything but supportive. As we were about to leave London, England, after a two-and-one-half week stay, one of them left her passport in the bedsheets, and, as a result, it went to the hotel's laundry. The next day was July 4, so the American embassy wouldn't be open to help us, and we were to travel early on the fifth. I was now feeling the girls' mother had deceived me—it appeared she had just wanted to get rid of them for a few weeks. I was feeling hostile toward her, and also indignant that the girls were misusing time and resources.