Traveling has always been something I wanted to do. Every time I visit a new area, I feel a new sense of understanding is created. One such understanding was learned during one of my vacations.
Over the summer of 2008, my family and I went to
The child was a beggar who seemed about thirteen years old. He was sitting down on a couple of rags. The rags themselves were covered in mud and dirt. Piles of feces could be viewed around the youth’s immediate vicinity. The child was malnourished and diseased with scoliosis. In
The most depressing truth above all is this was done with intent by ring-leaders of the beggar’s mafia; a gang that works similar to prostitution only money is traded due to pity of the impoverished. This child one of the many was being used for profits. Any money that he collected would be forcibly taken by a gang member who brought these kids there to begin with. Anyone could tell the authorities, but they probably already know the situation. Instead of arresting these thugs, they take their rounds accepting cop bribes the gang members most surely has to offer.
As I walked past the boy he looked at me while I looked at him back. And I looked into those eyes and saw myself in his position. To be trapped in one spot, immobile. Have nothing else to say except to ask passersby for sustenance, but only to feel the apathy of the public. Here I am, in America, living the life of a free person, with more rights then most people ever get in this world, and there I see the paradox of my life; another doomed puppet to act as the slave of a corrupted business that continues on to this day. I will never forget that boy’s impression nor will I ever take my life for granted.
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