This morning on my way to to my usual haunt..I saw something that seems to remain so etched in my mind.

The image of a young maybe 12 year old street lad, standing stark naked on the curb. He was dark, hadn't washed for ages. He seemed to be pleading with the man next to him to be given back his clothes. I just had a fleeting glance of this boy before the car picked up speed and sped off. But he brought tears to my eyes.
He looked so vulnerable, so pitiable. How shamefully left in the open for eyes to prey on!

We reached our destination. "God, is this life all about us? How selfish we are! Focusing only on our needs, when so many needy besiege us on all sides." I cried.
Returning the same way, I looked out for the boy. He wasn't to be seen. Some other kids about his age, in tattered clothes, wandered under the flyover, their abode.

I watched,'Thank you, Maa,' as someone suggested on Wb. My sadness increased. How deprived these kids are! No hope..just a daily uphill struggle to just live.
Tiny girls being led to prostitution dens as potential targets for lecherous men, boys abused in adolescent remand homes, beaten black and blue by policemen, kids abandoned by their mother who didn't want them, living on footpaths..I shudder to think what happens to young girls out there!

Young people..even as you moan about girl friends abandoning you, the load of studies, pressure from parents, that terrible boss...
be thankful..
at least you have a roof over your head.
you can bathe twice a day under running hot water.
girls..you grumble about the curfew parents impose on you, aren't you happy you have concerned parents?
boss is bad, I agree, but you have a JOB, right?
hostel food may be unappetizing, but you didn't go hungry, did you?

Folk, it's time we start thanking God for things we have..
not moan about things we don't!
Let's pray for these hapless kids and start doing all we can to help them, whichever way we can.

As for the boy I saw in the morning..
I simply pray all goes well for him.

Sign In to know Author