Where were you when I slept hungry?

I have not written anything except for some reports for my research in a long time. It’s not that important issues, political or social, have not risen but I was not paying much attention to what’s going on around me in the past few months until today.

Today, I came across a picture on someone’s facebook that has forced me to pick up my pen; A little child wearing a “topi” is picking up garbage either for food or to help his father or mother to make a living.

I kept staring at this picture for a long time. My initial thoughts were about the child of course; A mixture of shock and sympathy, and then my mind travelled to the many times I have come across such sights while living in Pakistan. It’s only then that I asked myself: What if I had been brought up in such poverty? Or worse, what if this had been my child? Looking around in a garbage dump, trying to find something to feed himself?

My heart broke and only one thing came to my mind.

I would rather die than be a parent who can’t provide a good living to her children. By sheer stroke of luck, some of us have been born in well-off families, or atleast have enough resources to be able to live comfortably, but we hear so many stories of parents committing suicide because they can’t feed their children or buy them clothes for eid. Can we even imagine what kind of a situation can force a person to kill himself? What height of depression and desperation could make a person take his life that he even does not care for the children he is leaving behind orphaned? Definitely someone who cannot face himself, who cannot live with himself knowing his children are hungry or ill and he can’t buy them food or medicine.

And then I see the rich and the elite rulers of our country. I see them driving posh cars, carrying expensive handbags and wearing designer sunglasses while talking about poverty and other issues our country is facing. This isn’t something new for us and this is certainly not the first time you are reading about this injustice and insanity but question is; For how long will this go on? When will we step up and demand social equality? When will we say “Enough is enough”? When will we establish such a welfare society where wealth would not be accumulated by a select few but instead will be distributed to those who are in dire need of it? Will that day ever come when we’d be proud to say that no one goes to sleep hungry in our country?

I know this is not possible even for the rich and developed societies but atleast we could strive for an equal social order?  Those who are in power and have the ability to change the system must not forget that they are greatly responsible for the miserable condition the poor are living in. And those of us who are blessed with wealth have to learn to share it.  The conscience that we have so conveniently put to sleep must be woken up because no one lives forever.  We cannot shrug off our responsibility so easily and close our eyes to all these children dying of hunger around us. We must not forget that one day we’d be standing in His court and every one of these children will ask us “Where were you when I slept hungry?”

So do what you can on an individual basis and when it comes to selecting those who are ruling us, take a deep look inside your heart and ask yourself: Is this person honest and sincere enough to take us out of our misery? Make the decision very, very carefully and while you ponder over it, do not forget those little children who should be in school making colorful drawings but are picking up garbage from your street.