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Smile of the poor

I am always surprised at the gaping imbalance in the world. A scene from a Hindi serial haunted me for many days where the rich, after a party, throw their food onto the streets where many hungry kids stand waiting to gobble it up.
Looking around me, I am drawn into the eyes of the women and children on streets. I start imagining what ordeals they may have undergone till now, in a struggle to live. I wonder where they sleep at nights, worrying if some person molests them and they have no protection. Walking on a road in city after 10.30 pm is terrifying to me, though the area is peaceful. Then how do these beggar women, some in teenage and very beautiful despite their appearance, survive?
A reassuring mail I got just now reads, the difference between the rich and the poor is not that they have food, clothing, shelter or any such. It is just that the rich never smile, while the poor do. I have seen such smiles on the faces of young kids who play on roads dressed in tatters, not caring about the next meal and I have also seen frowns and jealousy on the faces of rich kids who need not care about the next meal.

Comments

  1. WhoAmI?October 30, 2011 at 1:15 PM

    ... its the power of Here & Now ... living in the moment apparently has tremendous vitality & energy to conquer anything ...
    ... its accumulation of anything, food, clothing, riches, information & knowledge et al that makes humans live out of the here & now place & time ... one lives mostly on memories of past or fear of future or both ...
    ... frown on the face is just symptom, the disease is much deeper & all-pervasive ...

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  2. WhoAmI?October 30, 2011 at 1:27 PM

    while, for lack of awareness of the power of living in the moment, the have-nots struggle to accumulate, the haves who've accumulated (wealth/knowledge/mind et al) but become aware of its burden struggle to find ways of getting rid of it just to live in the moment ...

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