A real sad fact

I was at Philcoa at around 10 pm last night, having just gotten back from work in Sta. Mesa. The weather was really foul (to have said that it was raining cats and dogs would have been a gross understatement), and when I alighted from the jeep, I saw this girl of around ten, calling out 'Bagong Silang!, Bagong Silang!" to prospective jeepney riders. She was dressed in rags, and skimpy ones at that, which was a most dreadful sight to see, considering that it was really cold ( I had my jacket on and still felt chills, but that must have been only me, ginawin din kasi talaga ako). Around her and scattered all over Philcoa were other kids of roughly the same age and younger who were selling sampaguita garlands (probably part of a syndicate that uses kids for their devious ends, no doubt, but pitiful nonetheless.)I gave them some loose change for them to buy bread with (I sure hope they bought bread and not rugby or some other solvent). Anyhow, seeing the girl just made me feel really sad. I found it rather ironic that she was shouting "Bagong Silang!" in a somewhat joviaL tone of voice when everything else in the world seemed awry. In a way, she could be that-"bagong silang sa mundo ng kabalintunaan."

Ever since grade school, most everyone who's been fortunate enough to get an education has been taught that children are the hope of the future and this country, and yet all around us we see children whose lives are being torn asunder by poverty, and whose childhood are being snatched away by individuals who use them for selfish means, and yet hardly anyone ever cares. It's like watching gold turn into lead right before your very eyes.

I know I may not be in the position to be calling out to anyone, I mean I've had my own moments of selfishness and apathy, but just the same, we don't need to have people by the likes of Mother Teresa to be able to do our fair share in protecting the children of this nation and, corollarily, our future.