I was standing at one bus stand, waiting for my sister and her friend to return from class. Soon, I got lost in my own little world. However, a woman and her little child snapped me back to reality.

As I stood staring at them curiously, I noticed a couple of things. She was a woman of thirty years of age, wearing a shabby t-shirt and skirt. She carried a blue bag on her left shoulder and on her right, she held a little boy’s hand. I assumed, he was of 4 years of age. He was wearing an old yellow t-shirt and discolored white pyjama pants. That reminded me of my 4 year old brother who looks adorable in his white pyjamas which makes him look thin and tiny.

It was that thought of my brother, similar to that boy that formed tears in my eyes. His mother was a beggar, harsh, but the truth, begging for food, striving to live in this poverty-stricken, unkind world. She was walking from car to car, hoping that something, anything would be given. But nowadays, less people care about others, less people think about other’s lives. This world is so civilized, so engaged with technology, that people do not see others anymore, but themselves. These heartless people have good food to eat, a warm bed, a place to sleep, clean clothes to wear, good shoes, a family, education, a job, but they are always down, thinking about their problems alone. And they never realize how indeed lucky they are!

Why are we living in a world as such?
NO, how are we living in a world as such?

More tears formed in my eyes as I stepped into her shoes. How would I feel if I was that woman begging and begging for food to keep her family alive? Just to see that child walking and walking along with his mother in this extremely hot sun, not even knowing why he is in the middle of the road, begging for food is too much. Imagine if that child was YOUR brother or YOUR son, would you not feel compassion? Would you not care?

Children are bought into this world to live a better life, not to see a worse one. But for that child, his future holds something different, something that entirely depends on that boy to make a change.

It’s sad.

Try this out: Go a day without food and water. Imagine living in a world like the poor do without hope, with lies, no education, no family, no friends, no shelter and no help. What would you do? Where will you go? And how long will you survive?

This is why Muslims around the world fast for 29 to 30 days in the month of Ramadhan to feel how poor feel without food and water.

What could be done is up to you and me. Could you bear to see kids beg for food? Could you keep your own child in hunger? If the answer is “NO”, then help them because children are the future of this world.

Give what you have. Even Rs.5 would mean something. Shower them with kindness. Share your meal with them, and unknowingly you will be filed with compassion inside you. Get together in a community and help this part of the society. What you could give them, could and would mean a great deal, a new start.

Not only are you helping them, but you are also making yourself a better person.

So, please do help: For a better future, a better world, and for a better YOU!

PEACE!!

by  Rashika Fazali