Often people don’t even know what a beautiful and heart rending thing they have said, that flies straight from their heart to strike a chord in another person.
Shama works as a maid at our place. In her twenties, she doesn’t know her exact age like most others who were born into poverty, and life has not given her much choice but to work for a living since she was much younger.
‘Were you ever naughty in your childhood?’ I asked her this evening.
‘I don’t remember. I don’t remember anything at all from my childhood!’ she exclaimed, and then laughed. ‘All I do remember is one thing, that I would always be playing.’
I can’t explain why this is so beautiful and sad to me at the same time.
Posts
Choose Love
7 years ago
2 comments:
I just wanted to thank you for leaving that sweet comment on my blog. It really means a lot to me to know all of the support that I have behind me.
Thanks!
Shana, I know I'm posting a comment late on this post, but I've only discovered your blog today. I just had to comment though.
I once knew some people who adopted a small girl from Adidas Ababa (sp?). She was such a beautiful little girl, full of spirit and personality. She was believed to be between the ages of 4-6. In that country, they to were unaware of their birth date, and in most cases, even the year, especially the children in the orphanages.
When the family brought the girl back into the states, they took her to a doctor and a dentist to have her tested in an effort to try and determine her age. They placed her at 4 years old.
Having no idea when her birthday was, the doctor asked her what day she wanted to be her birthday so that he could file the proper paperwork. The date she chose just happened to be the birthday of the father that had just adopted her. Of course she had no idea.
Anyway, while at the doctor's office, the doctor spoke to her about how lucky she was going to be to have these people as her parents and how fortunate she was to be in America. He said to her "You'll have another unhappy day as a child. You are such a lucky little girl." When her interpreter told her this, she responded, "Was I not happy before? Playing always made me happy and I always played."
I cried when they told me the story. Isn't it amazing how simply the children live in third world countries and how they do not know they are doing without anything? I've always said "You don't know what you don't know until you know it", and what I mean by that is, those children do not know they have any reason not to be happy because they don't know any different life, or even how others live. They just accept their situation and live in it the best they can.
Post a Comment