My Quiet Place


Sunday, August 23, 2009

Twinkles

As I walked through Wal-Mart doing my grocery shopping I come upon many different people. On this particular day I was really having trouble being around all the people and was feeling very emotional. Even though I wanted to just give up and leave, I made myself finish my shopping then I hurried to find my way out of the store.

As I was leaving I saw a mother and her six children. None of the family were very well kept and they all look like they could use a bath. The one child that stuck out the most to me was the little girl who walked about five feet behind the rest and, in my eyes, had been pretty much forgot by her mother. As she walked she sang...
"Twinkle, twinkle little star how I wonder what you are....
Up above the world so high like a diamond in the sky.....
Twinkle, Twinkle little star how I wonder what you are"
This really touched my heart. She has no idea that she is in a poor family and that she isn't being taken care of as good as she should be. She is just happy to be there and singing her little song.

I think about this little girl a lot and my questions are...
What will happen to this little girl?
Will she grow up to be happy?
Will she have the same life as her mother?
Will she ever really reach the stars that she sings about?
Would she be better off in a wealthier home?

I see these "twinkles" (poor children with potiental) and I make statements like: Those families don't deserve these children. They can't be giving them a good life. That child is going to end up just like their parents.

Then I stop and reflect. My own mother was a single mother who worked minimum pay jobs and did all she could do to make the two ends meet. Was she any different than these parents I am judging? If I had to judge my mother on the job she did raising me I would have to give her the blue ribbon. She taught me everything I needed to know to get the things in my life that I wanted. She made memories with me that I carry in my heart and will revisit the rest of my life. As I have gotten older my mother has become my best friend. I go to her with everything and there is nothing about me that she doesn't know. She has been there for me through the hardest times of my life and the happiest times. I am sure there where people who looked at her and thought she didn't have any business being a mom. They shouldn't have judged her and I will try to remember that when I see these the little "twinkles" around and start to judge their parents before I have seen any proof of their faults.