Be The Change!!!

Having had a very challenging not to mention nerve wrecking week, my friend and I decided a forbidden lunch from a fast food place would serve as the much needed therapy.  So we did just that, because we can :). As we downed our billions of calories ( at least that's how it felt with each bite), a little boy aged about 8 yrs approached us holding what turned out to be one of those fraudulent Sunday school  forms. Before u frown and judge me for calling them fraudulent, remember I have been here a while now so I am properly acculturated and can tell genuine from fraud like a boss :). It turns out some of these kids are given those forms by their parents who stay at home drinking to come collect money. A big shame on those adults who in this winter cold send out their kids to the streets to beg. Shame on you!!! These kids are supposed to be at school kindling their hopes of a bright future. Back to my encounter, I told the little one that I knew it wasn't genuine hence I wasn't going to contribute. He didn't  budge, instead in a small voice he said, " could you then please buy me something to eat?" That's when I looked at the kid properly. His lower lip was bleeding from what looked like he had had a beating and he genuinely looked hungry. My heart sunk.My maternal instincts flared. I just wanted to hug him and take him home for a warm meal and judging from the look on her face, my friend shared the feeling. Because taking him home wasn't a feasible option, we got him a meal instead. 

Why am I blogging about this child? He has been on my mind since. He isn't the first child or person I have met asking for change, but this particular incident for some reason left me feeling impotent. Having fed him that afternoon was obviously a drop in the ocean, because he is only a statistic in the times we are living in. As we engage vigorously in the fight against HIV, cancer awareness and campaigns against drugs, I feel we have shifted our focus to some extent if not completely from the hungry and homeless. Perhaps we have become so accustomed to seeing them, that our compassion for them has dwindled. The few benevolent souls left are not enough to efface this asperity we are facing. The few Coins we hand them or the grants are hardly enough for their basic needs in these hard economic times. I can't quite place a finger on what more needs to be done beyond empowerment and opportunity creation already in motion (which in my opinion is not enough),  but I believe we all in our different ways have what it takes to make a change. 

As you live your life today, spare a thought for those not so privileged and in your own way try to make a permanent change in a single life; because you can. Think beyond giving the coins. We are the youth they were waiting for. Lets be the change we want to see in our world. It is far from impossible. 

We can't help everyone, but everyone can help someone ~ Ronald Reagan 

Art Of Hearts

I am stupefied ,by the autonomy of my feelings.

By the intensity of my thoughts. Thoughts bewildered by my emotions.

Do they mirror in my eyes. 

Do you hear them echo in my voice?

Are they depicted in the gentleness of my mannerisms?

Are my efforts to suppress them betrayed?

Can u see my lips shy away from yours?

Can u feel my heart fight to capture the passion in yours?

Can u hear my voice whisper your name in the dimness of the world?

Can u see my eyes search for yours in this crowd that consumes me?

Thoughts of having you near make my heart burst, my palms sweat, my breath quickens.

As if about to run from a wild beast but the only thing in front of me is you.

The only thing that frightens me, is you.

You who have the authority to destroy the sanity within my mind.

The only one who can bring my very soul peace yet cause the serenity to crumble into chaos.

Within an instant of seeing your eyes, my every fibre is filled with the need to escape yet the want to be captured.

Bound in your arms as if my very essence depended on your touch.

My entirety wants nothing more than to tell you, ney shake you, fight you and yet deny you the pleasure of being my capture.

With every passing day the thought of you weakens yet when I stand in your glowing presence everything is merely melted away.

The past becomes a distant history, the present is nothing but that moment and the future once again looks bright.

However once you leave and I realize what has transpired and what the present really entails, 

Every atom of the earth crumbles once more and the realization of the reality causes such pain, no drug can ever cure.

The only relief is a blade that slices through the flesh of the hopes and dreams, once held by a child who would pray and wish on every star. 

The blade that now lies beside a broken and shattered fairytale, whose very ideal is bleeding from the fragments.

And after all of this I am still stupefied by the existence of feeling. 

I am still mesmerized by the unadulterated love in my heart for you.

The butterfly story.

She was getting better, 

She almost had it together,

But then came along a reminiscence, 

A threat to her progress,

A ripper of her new beginnings.

She faltered, she almost hit the ground,

Then she remembered her worth,

She remembered her mission,

To rid herself of her past, 

To escape her ghosts, her unhappiness .

So she retreated to her small world,

Her beautiful serene bubble,

Where all was sane, all was safe,

Where all things made sense, 

Her safety net, just for a while.

Like a butterfly, she emerged a beauty,

Out came a Vibrant, rejuvenated soul,

She came out stronger, Ready to face it all,

She said it to be the beginning of an era,

She proclaimed a champion had been born,

She chose to Live her life !!!!!!

Life's lesson?? No??

Remember the first day u looked at me,

The warmth in your eyes, the smile on your lips,

The static in your touch, the mellow of your voice,

An epic encounter, a beautiful beginning .

The racing of my heart matched yours,

The rawness of my want was a mimic of yours,

I felt our hearts lock, and  I knew right then you were the one,

I knew that very moment I had found my missing piece. 

I thought you felt it too, when you took my hand,

And Led me into an adventure,  that built a nest in my mind.

I thought then that we had it solid, that we were now US,

That we were the cast, to a beautiful script.

But It was all a fallacy, nothing but empty promises ,

Now I lay here  in complete anguish, in the bitter cold,

Yearning ,crying hoping to God that u come back,

Yet wanting you gone, crushed for the pain u caused me.

Where did we go wrong, where did we lose our footing?

Our hands were each others' gloves, our laughters were real,

Was it just but a dream,  or a game of hearts with no rules,

Or are you the lesson, life warned me about?