Saturday, August 19, 2006

Entry for August 19, 2006

Yesterday a good chat friend of mine, asked me for help in doing a websearch on a question he had about his horse.



Now I should start out by saying that I don't have a clue about the care and upkeep of horses. The last contact I had with a horse was when a small pony stepped on my big toe when I was a kid.



As I was doing my web surfing for his question, I thought of people and their love of pets. I think the majority of us have had a pet that we cherished. Pets can be like family, or seem to be as close as a family member.



Thinking about horses, I thought about a girl that I went to grade school with, for the life of me I can't remember her name. She didn't attend  our little country school for long, but I still remember her. I remember her face. I remember that wooden bead and jute choker she wore around her neck every day. But I don't remember her name.



She showed up one day at school with her two siblings. In a small country school that holds grades K-8th., you know everyone. I didn't really get to know her well though, but one thing I did learn was how much she loved horses. She claimed to have a horse, and it was coming soon. It was all she talked about. Being kids we believed her...at first. But then, when it never materialized, we stopped believing her. We were kids afterall, and kids have fanciful ideas.



Then one day she didn't come to school...neither did her siblings. It was just after recess and we were all gathered around  the only porcelain water fountain, jostling to get a drink, when her parents walked in. They were  holding onto each other tight and weeping. The teacher took them into the classroom and talked to them behind the closed door. They weren't there long, and as  the teacher walked them out, we noticed she was weeping too.



One of the boys in my class snickered and made a joke. The teacher turned around, and with the pointy tip of her shoe, she kicked that boy in the rear of his pants. Our eyes were wide with wonder, first crying parents and now our teacher had kicked a student. So much excitement for our school day.



It was later that we learned that the girl's parents were poor. Very poor. So poor they had to split up their three children to send them to different relatives.



It was a week or so later when after class, the teacher asked me to return a few things that the girl had left behind. A little paper sack, of  a bowl and a spoon, that she had left in the lunchroom. I remember walking down that hill to that big white house. It had an old iron fence that was almost hidden by vines and weeds. I walked thru that front gate, so nervous...so scared.



I knocked on the old wooden screen door,  the front door was wide open. I saw a figure lying on the floor or a couch get up, I wasn't sure, it was so dark in there for being the middle of the day. It was her mom. I quickly handed her the bag and told her the teacher wanted me to return it to her. She told me thanks, and then asked me to wait a moment. She returned with a book from our school library. It was a book on horses.



She asked me to give it to the teacher and as I turned to go, she yelled for me to tell the teacher that the girl was doing real good in school. I said I would. I was so relieved after I dropped off that book and gave the teacher that message. It felt easier to breathe when I walked out the front door of that school building.



Several years ago, there was a popular book about how the most important things you learn in life, you learn in kindergarten. I know the author meant things like sharing, being kind to others, the basic simple things in life. I would have to agree with them,  that you learn a lot in those first few years.



But of all that I learned, of reading, writing, arithmatic,... I think the most important thing I learned in those young formative years.... is that there could be that kind of poor. As a child growing up, until then, I never knew that kind of poor existed....



I didn't have to hear about homeless people on the news. I didn't have to read about it in those National Geographic magazines that we huddled around, and snickered over, at those naked tribal pics. It was in my own back yard. You never think in your narrow and childish world, anything could be in your own back yard.



I often wonder where that nameless girl is today..... Did she ever get her family back?.... Did she ever stop dreaming about that horse?...... Did she ever stop dreaming?



I learned a lot that year...An awful lot...





 

Comments

(9 total)

Awwwwww vic, that is so sad but it is a reality that there are poor and needy children right here in the USA and yet money is sent to aid other nations and their children grow up to hate us. Makes me sad for all children....

Saturday August 19, 2006 - 10:28pm (EDT)

We were poor in my eyes but there were several families in the small town where I went to school from 4th to 10th grade that were much worse off. I always tried to be kind and talk to them when many other kids were mean and rude. I never understood trying to make someone feel worse when they probably didn't have much to feel good about on a daily basis anyway. A group of us would walk past this one families tiny home on our way to a hill we'd slide down and I'd always stop and talk to them or ask them if they wanted to come along. They always refused the invite.

Saturday August 19, 2006 - 09:39pm (CDT)

In this part of the country when I was growing up everyone was poor. The depression lingered for this area. Most people had left for places like Califorina or Chicago to find work the ones that remained learned how to get by. But the main thing I remember is being poor was not a reason for unhappiness. It was a growing up I wouldn't trade for anything. Over the years we had several different kids that came to live with our family because theirs couldn't hold them all together. Mama always said, what is one more potato in the pot.

Saturday August 19, 2006 - 09:49pm (CDT)

Nice blog, Vic! <smiling>

Saturday August 19, 2006 - 08:34pm (PDT)

Vic, I too grew up very poor in material things but rich in love. (Huggs)

Sunday August 20, 2006 - 04:35am (EDT)

What was it your friend needed to know about the horse? lol I also grew up without alot of material things..but we had a Christian home and was happy with what we had.

Sunday August 20, 2006 - 01:04pm (PDT)

Dear Viccles (hugs) Remember jerry_kamdron? I hear from him infrequently, and when I last did so, he had been on a trip to his native Peru, the first time he'd done so since he was a tiny baby. He was so humbled by that experience, and I read in his words that he would never EVER take his good fortune for granted again. Perhaps we all need such reminders from time to time. Keep safe, dear lady.

Wednesday August 23, 2006 - 07:57am (EST)

You know I didn't realize I needed anything until I went to school and other kids started telling me that if I didn't have this(lunchbox) or that(pair of shoes) I wasn't cool. This post drove that same sentiment home. Often we don't see necessities as being something material, but rather more spiritual, until someone else comes along and says differently.

Hope you are doing well, Vic. Hugs.

Tuesday August 22, 2006 - 08:40pm (PDT)

I have racked my one brain cell to find the words I want to say, but It's all been said above. ...Vic find that girl, I'll buy her a horse!

Wednesday August 23, 2006 - 08:00pm (NZST)
























 

Posted by at

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)