"Momentary Truce with Poverty" photo taken by Kamalayan
I have another blog which has been unmaintained for quite some time. In fact, it has been spammed more than a thousand of illegitimate comments. So I decided to transfer some of the contents to this blog and remove it from there.
I wrote the following in 2007 first release of our school paper that year–when I was still a student. This is neither a literary piece nor an essay. I really don’t know what to call it. But this is something that makes a person guilty. It made me guilty as I wrote it. Here it goes:
Today
To the Citizens of the World,
As you pick up your things today, do your daily routine and interact with others, I hope that, at least, you won’t forget to remember what I am about to say.
Yesterday, I saw a child—there in the lane where the busy crowds were just passing by him. He was barefooted, wearing nothing but an old, worn out, loosed shirt. I could see how his thin and fragile body struggled as he looked for something to eat. Poor creature! His hunger could only be relieved by somebody else’s leftover he’d found in a waste can.
On the contrary, at the other side of me, you were in a dining room. I watched you as you eat with great gusto and then…I was amazed, not at the manner of how you eat but at how numb you were! You’ve placed too much food on your plate but in the end, couldn’t consume it all because you’ve suddenly felt full or that you’ve realized that you should be on a diet.
Isn’t it funny? You have thought of those things but not of the “other poor” who are dying in hunger. But to be fair, I admit that I do recognize the PITY you feel for them. Yet, how far can your pity go? Those persons are just a “word of mouth”, a good subject to be featured on TV, an award-winning topic to write about, a group of beings to take picture with during social consciousness or community involvement events as evidence of a charitable work done. They are only a sea of strangers you don’t have to care for because you are not even related to them! And every tidbit of food you’ve wasted is just as it was—a mere combination of ingredients that could destroy your figure and that doesn’t even worth a single cent. But no, it isn’t really like that. It’s only what you perceive, what you see.
What you don’t realize is that that tidbit represents the “blood and sweat” of somebody else’s who worked so hard for it—perhaps of your father or mother. And the “other poor”, just as you are, belong to the everyONE (not everyTHING) who is not only composed of atoms and systems of chemical reactions but also of history, of emotions you can touch and of stories which you could be part of. They need help; not wasting those tidbits could be a big one.
"Tatay" by Kamalayan
Dear citizens of the world, everytime you eat and the food tastes bad and you only have water to drink (for no other beverages are available), please do not complain but feel fortunate, instead. There are those whose eating-three-times-a-day is unheard of privilege. Think of a father in dire straits, working twelve hours a day under the scorching heat of the sun so he could feed his children, or at least, consider your brothers and sisters in the middle of the desert and in famine in Africa who would love a droplet of water to somehow quench their thirst.
Should you grieve the passing of the day because your parents couldn’t give what you want; Please pause for a while and reflect: be thankful for you have them. There are those who have never seen theirs. How they wish they had one who would protect, spend time with, comfort, care for and love them! How they wish they had a family, which they could call home and claim as a member of!
May you not forget to remember those who are suffering, for who knows, tomorrow or maybe sooner, it’s you who turns into a child who struggles looking for something to eat, whose hunger could only be relieved by somebody else’s leftover, and whom the busy crowds are just going to pass by because he’s a part of that sea of strangers that people don’t have to care for.
I pray that you will learn how to appreciate and be grateful of the things you have and of what you will have.
I am earth, the planet you are living in. I am always watching over you.
Thank you!
Sincerely yours,
World
P. S.: May this letter serve not as a warning but both as a simple reminder and a gift. Please consider passing it on.
If you like the photos, you can view more of Kamalayan’s shots at this link: http://www.flickr.com/photos/kamalayan/.
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