The Boy Who Carried the Sack of Rice

What do you carry?

Books, food, or extra pair of shoes are inside your bag, and many other things.

We all carry a lot. Thank God for the stuff we carry.

This morning though, I saw a boy around 17 or 18 years old. He was carrying a sack of rice on his back.

Perhaps he was working. I assumed he was a boy to deliver rice to people and households, who were ordering from nearby villages. He had no bike, no van ride, no cart. He was just walking. Poor boy!

For awhile he stood there at the corner, and maybe he was waiting for someone. Maybe he was resting. My reporters instinct prodded me to ask him questions, but I didn't attempt because I felt I would be disturbing him at work. Instead, what I did was to stare at him from head down to his slippers. I couldn't avoid touching his arm, and said "Can you carry it?

And he answered "Yes."

Then I distanced myself. The boy might be wondering. "Who is this woman? Why would she ask me?"

Until now, the boy's figure could not be deleted in my head. He was a picture of a boy working so hard to earn something. That boy gave me a thought about other young boys who worked well. I just feel sorry for them because they have got no parents, nor relatives to help them go to school. Maybe. There really are teen-agers who should be in school right now but because of poverty they opted to work.

These problems bug many of us. Though many of us are not rich and couldn't do big things, we desire to help. But don't worry because little acts of kindness will do. Little acts of prayers will do. Little acts of help and inspiration will do. Inspiring others can be steps for them to face their own struggles in life. Kindness and inspiration can serve as light so others bereft of love or short of material property. These would move them farther, let them make their own goals, and let them live everyday with meaning.

The boy was wearing an ordinary green shirt, and for me he was a promising young man. I just can't memorize how he looked, but I could remember how he worked. For a few minutes, he carried that load of rice on his back to make our world turn. He was a true superman! He was an angel!

Dear God see the desires of every young heart, especially those who are poor.
Bless them and all those who would share little and big things to them.
Bless us in the roads we would pass.

rose flores martinez
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