Little Indian men running around,
Constant horns, filling the air with sound.
Strange looks and stares, and sometimes glares
Overwhelmed by so much that feels unfair
India is a nation that shuns Her begging children, while also endorsing it. Some of the street kids are forced to “work” on behalf of their parents (or owners, depending on the situation) while others are encouraged to beg because “it keeps them out of trouble.”
I walk outside and am soon approached by one precious little girl. Ratted hair and rags for clothes, her sweet little face is covered in dirt. I smile at her with all the compassion within me and she reaches her hand out to hold mine. Slowly we walk, hand in hand, her big, tender brown eyes staring up at me from time to time. My heart melts.
Meanwhile, the glares and stares intensify and I know that my simple act of love is unwelcome in this place. Crossing all kinds of cultural barriers, I have embraced one who has been declared “unclean” … and while it would be said that I might become tainted by interactions with her, she is in fact the one who is changing me.
Carefully I step over the mud puddles, doing my best not to slip and fall with the wet, mud-covered pavement that the rain has left. I look down, careful not to loose my footing on the broken, uneven stones, and I notice her feet. Worn. Filthy. … and barefoot.
My heart swells with even more love and compassion. I find that words are escaping my lips without much thought or consent.
“Oh, I just want to take you home!” I say.
Later in the day she finds us again, and before I even realize who it is, she has her whole body wrapped around my legs. It’s in that moment that I realize that while I would love to take her home and love her into adulthood, she is actually the one teaching me a thing about love.
The world has taught her that none can be trusted, and that foreigners are only for collecting money and things from. Yet here she is, loving me. Embracing me. With no concern at all for what others will say or think, she has opened her arms to me, offered me the sweetest little smiles in the world, and given my heart so much with her tender love. Truly she has changed my life much more than I could ever change hers.
