I Saw a Child Being Killed... and I Couldn't Do Anything!

Sitting in the shade, enjoying my quiet, sipping my whiskey and smoking my cigarette, minding my own business, I saw armed men. Mighty and valiant men, their sight alone was fearful to look at. In their hands, a vulnerable, tender child tied up like a criminal. Speaking, he couldn't. Fighting, he was weak and couldn't defend himself. A victim of injustice was he. I saw men, gathering about, plotting how they will slaughter the sacrifice laid before them. The innocent, not knowing the schemes they had, could only hope against hope that the end will come. In my sight, I saw the holy one, dressed in fine linen as if he is a representative of God, lifting his right hand, as in a blessing, marking the sign of the cross and whispering, "Nothing will happen to you...May the Almighty bless you, in the name of the Father, the Son and the Ghost." These words were fruitless and an elusive innocence and concealed ignorance, the child knew that there was no help, even from God himself.  I sat, and amused myself at the scene, then I saw how they pulled the dagger and with a single thrust to the chest, all was done. Cheers roaring around the camp as if they killed a sellout or an enemy soldier. What was my own, to look in amusement and not do anything at all. After, all, my whiskey nor my cigarette was touched, it wasn't my child, why must I be concerned. Panicky, I woke up and pondered what this might mean.

Indifference has swept much of humanity. People are no longer sensitive to the plight of the vulnerable and the poor. They are so much engaged with and by their own affairs and they forget the human aspect. We think so much, but feel so little. One of my friends, Florence Tafireyi, who inspired me to write this, said something which struck my mind, "I want the world to be a better place." She is into assisting Autistic children and has played a key role in helping us to understand the beauty of humanity especially those children affected by autism. What struck me the most, is her passion towards the wellbeing of others, it's applaudable. I heard someone say, "If you turn your back towards the plight of the needy or others, you open the door to your own misfortunes." Indifference backfires.

We have a humanity that can literary cripple you and give you wheelchairs. People plot evil while others sit and watch injustices happen but because it does not concern them directly or indirectly, they leave it to happen and when disaster strikes, all are affected. Indifference is a disease to the society and I think it is worse than those who perpetrate evil. Most of us participate in this evil. Nickelback, in their album: All The Right Reasons, song entitled, If Everyone Cared, call on us to love so as to heal the broken and better our world by getting rid of injustices, hunger and other tragedies. Each should play his part. It begins with you and I.

It is only by love, that we can heal the world.

Mutsawashe