Lessons Of Summer
I decided to sit down and make believe like I was back at school and gave myself the assignment to write about my summer vacation....
My summer was quite an eventful one albeit devoid of extravagant Caribbean vacations or lavish weekend escapes. Though it was chock full of life lessons that have helped me gain a new perspective on life and will last me a lifetime. For starters, I came across a little lost boy of about 7 yrs old, he was wailing and walking aimlessly. I recall hearing his cry from a distance about 10 minutes before our lives would actually cross paths and thinking he was just a bratty kid who was giving his mother a hard time I carried on with my business not giving him a second thought. A few minutes later I suddenly hear the familiar wail once again now fast approaching my direction, I was again going to ignore it but as destiny would have it, he was now walking alongside me. My first instinct was to look around to see if he was accompanied by a parent, it was then I realized he was alone. I approached him and in his anguish he almost ignored me when I asked if he was okay, at which point he very quickly and dismissively looked at me from the corner of his eye and shook his head, so I reached for his arm to stop him, I then asked what was wrong and in one loud wail he said "I lost my mom!", my heart sank at the notion that I was now the designated person in getting this child to safety. I assured him that he was safe and that I wouldn't leave his side until we had found his mommy which helped to calm him down. I walked with him for a while and told him to point out his mother as soon as he saw her, luckily for us a keen male passerby alerted me to the fact that there was a woman a few feet away from us looking for her lost child and within minutes I was able to reunite the boy with his mother.Up until that day, watching all those 'What Would You Do?' shows on ABC seemed like a complete waste of time but now I realize their importance; they help in providing the viewers with ammunition and raising their awareness should they ever find themselves in such situations which can be just as overwhelming and confusing for any adult as much as they are for children, it also aides in reiterating that there is indeed strength in numbers; case in point, the passerby who immediately at the sight of the boy and his demeanor surmised the situation then pointing us in the right direction contributed to bringing the child to safety.
As I walked home that day all I could think of was little Etan Patz; the abducted child of the '70s who was the first featured on a milk carton and whose story had touched and haunted me throughout the years and now more than ever was breaking my heart having just witnessed first hand the anguish of a lost child. I couldn't help thinking how unjust it was that Etan and so many others who suffered his same fate hadn't been as fortunate as Anthony, the little boy I met that day. Once again if we are to contribute in helping to make a difference in the world, we all need to get involved and bring awareness to our communities. Here are some organizations you can research which are dedicated to aiding and supporting families of missing and abused children alike:
http://www.protect.org/
http://www.missingkids.com/
http://www.childrenmissing.com/
http://www.pollyklaas.org/
http://www.missingkids.com/
http://www.childrenmissing.com/
http://www.pollyklaas.org/
http://www.protect.org/
http://www.missingkids.com/
http://www.childrenmissing.com/
http://www.pollyklaas.org/
The second life lesson learned is one of a very personal nature and the which I am not presently yet prepared to speak in detail about but let's just say, it was one that reaffirmed the importance of family and how we need to love, support and appreciate our loved ones. Most of us take our loved ones for granted forgetting the sad true fact of life that nothing is a given; we are here now and that is all we know, beyond that, life can change in mere seconds for anyone of us. It is only through such life experiences that one realizes the importance of living each day to the fullest by sharing with our loved ones and doing all those things that bring us joy. We must also recognize that we are all vehicles and extensions of God's grace and we must therefore always heed the call of our fellow-men.
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