I needed to go up to the mall today, Kad Suan Kaew Central Mall. If you stand in front of this mall you would think you were in America. there's a Starbucks out front and a KFC and Sizzler. Disgustingly American. As I crossed the street I saw a mother and her child sitting in the shade. They were homeless. The homeless here make the homeless in America seem lucky. They looked as if they had not bathed in weeks, if not months. It was so painful to see.
The horror of the sight hit me like a punch in the stomach and the shock of that almost brought me to my knees. I could not stop the tears from leaking out. What kind of a person am I to see something like that and do nothing. No Thing. --- I hate myself today. I hate myself for not stopping and giving her the 320 baht I had in my pocket.
When I fail to summon the courage to act my fallback position is to hate God. ---- I know, God did not create the society that would allow such a sight. We did. Us. All of us. Everyone on the planet is a little bit culpable. Sometimes hating God is easier than doing something. I would not be feeling tortured right now if I'd given her the 320 baht in my fucking pocket.
The odd part of this scene is her son, a child about three years old. The child did not sound miserable and tortured. He had this completely joyful and charming laughter about him. That was an incongruity.
Can I go back tomorrow and help?
"I don't know. Can you. But "can you" is not the question needing to be asked. The real question is, Will you?
What will you do"?
It's easy to sit in your condo, watching tv and stuffing your fat ass with delicious food, then write about what a tradgy that scene was today. It takes courage to act. It takes no courage to view and comment. There are times writing about such tradgies serves a purpose. This is not one of those times. Writing this serves only to appease you, to shelter the burden from your shoulders. It serves no one".
No comments:
Post a Comment