34. Broken Circles

After a long day in town I made my way back to my flat.
Just before the gate to my complex, I was confronted by a woman. A middle-aged woman, whose face tells the story of a hard life and many battles. She wobbled into my “personal space”, in her drunken state, while clutching her four year old son’s arm.
“Buy something for David! Please! He is hungry and hasn’t had anything to eat all day”, she slurred.
I almost got intoxicated just from the smell of her breath. Annoyed and tired I thought to myself, ‘If you can buy your wine then why can’t you buy your child some food?!’ and I passed on by saying, “Sorry, I can’t.”
I went into my flat and finally, after a long day on my feet, was able to sit down and relax.
The only problem was, I couldn’t really relax because I couldn’t get my mind off little David. It’s not his fault that his mother makes irresponsible decisions but would I be encouraging her drinking habits by supporting him and making it easier on her? I wrestled with it for a few minutes and decided to go out on my balcony and check out what was going on down there.
I looked down to the street and saw them.
I watched as David entertained himself with a blanket as mom and dad poured another round. I watched as he walked up to his mother with a request and was pushed away because she was “busy”.
I watched as each “passer-by” reacted to him differently: some ignored him, some playfully joked with him, and some even threatened him when he got close to them.
I watched as he got a little too close to the fast moving traffic. I watched all of this and wondered what it would be like to be four years old and for this to be the nightly activities of my life. Tears filled my eyes. ‘It’s not fair!’ I thought to myself. No child deserves to be in that situation!! Why are some children’s destinies picked for them, before they are even born, just to add another link to a never-ending chain of circles?
Then it clicked.
Maybe his mom and dad were in the exact same position that he is in now when they were his age. We can’t change the past, but we can definitely mold the future and stop the vicious circle.
So I decided to do just that.
I went down and picked David up and took him into the 711 and carried him around letting him pick out some food and a drink, trying to guide him to the more healthy foods and away from the sweets and junk food. I talked and played with him for a while and then told him good night.
Before I put him down he gave me a huge hug and squeezed as if he was never going to let go. I also didn’t want to let go. I didn’t want to throw him back into the harsh reality of his life. I put him down and walked back up to my flat.
Even though I only spent a few minutes with him, I knew that they were a few more steps toward breaking the circle. A few more steps to seeing David succeed in life.
In my opinion, there is nothing more precious than the life of a child. Not one single thing on the face of this earth. They are this world’s future and not one single person alone is responsible for them.
We are all responsible.
We can make a difference. Whether it is with one child or one thousand. Whether we spend three minutes or three years pouring into their lives. Each little bit counts and each little bit is a step towards breaking the vicious cycles of the past and bettering the lives of the children.
Eventually, David’s parents’ drinking habits got so bad that he got taken out of their custody and placed in a foster home. He now has another chance at life and is at least one kid that managed to make it out of the vicious cycle.In his life, the circle was broken.