World in distress

Elizabeth was sitting on her windowsill staring out the window at the quiet street below. There was a roughly folded newspaper next to her and a cup of coffee in her hand. She sighed. She wondered why she bothered to subscribe to the newspaper at all these days. Everything she read was terribly depressing. The world was falling apart, crumbling to pieces before everyone’s eyes but most people didn’t have the power to do anything to change the situation. First there was all the reports of violent crimes, civil unrest, warfare, and terrorism in many countries around the world. Corruption was also rife in many countries, causing the economy to be unstable. Even more concerning was the number of people dying young due to AIDS, cancer, and brain related issues like aneurisms or tumors.

Elizabeth often felt sullen about the outlook of her own country. She loved her country; it was immensely beautiful and there was so much to love about its people. Unfortunately hers was one of those countries plagued with violent crimes, civil unrest, corruption, and AIDS.

Her thoughts drifted towards her little nephew and to any child she might have in future. She hoped that the world would soon heal so the next generation could simply revel in the beauty surrounding them; where the only concern they would have is finding something they loved as well as their place in the world. But a frown creased her forehead as she reflected on how much would need to change to move towards that utopian image. A hopelessness settled upon her once again. She shook off her melancholia, and finished off her coffee. Maybe one day soon she would come up with a possible solution to at least one of the problems facing the world. Until then, she would be reluctant to bring a child into this world of chaos.

Young Love

Eruanna wasn’t really paying attention to what her friend Amara was saying. She was distracted; anxiously waiting for a glimpse of him. She suddenly realised that Amara was saying her name. “E? Earth to E? Care to give me your thoughts on this? I keep telling my mum that she’s being totally unreasonable.”, said Amara, cutting into Eruanna’s thoughts. Eruanna started to apologise, but just then spotted Sandeer coming around the corner with his friend. A shy smile stole over her face before she could even think to conceal her obvious pleasure at seeing him. Too late she schooled her face back into one of indifference, but Amara was smirking knowingly at her.

“Hi girls”, called Marcus, Sandeer’s best friend, as they approached. Sandeer smiled at Eruanna and said “Hi E. How are you doing?”. “I’m good, thanks. Yourself?”, replied Eruanna. “I’m good.”, said Sandeer. Even this little exchange of pleasantries made Eruanna’s heart sing.

Eruanna turned her attention back to the conversation of their friends. “So, are you girls going to Sahara’s house on Friday after school?”, asked Marcus. “I’ll be there. My parents said it would be ok if there was adult supervision, but mum’s picking me up before supper”, replied Amara. “Cool, so we will see you girls there. Save a dance for me, Am”, said Marcus as he winked at Amara. “You’ll be there too, E?”, asked Sandeer. Eruanna didn’t know what to say, and an awkward silence ensued. The truth was that Eruanna was not invited. She wasn’t what you would call “one of the cool kids”. She was not the partying type either. Her idea of fun with her friends was going out for lunch, ice cream or a movie. “Uh, no I don’t think I’ll make it. But I hope you guys have fun.”, she replied in as pleasant a voice as she could muster. She tried desperately to hide her disappointment at missing out on a party where Sandeer would be. His next words however made her feel better, “I wish you were coming. It won’t be the same without you”.

As the guys left to go to class, Amara turned to Eruanna and asked, “Why don’t you tell him?” Eruanna blushed and said, “I don’t know what you mean. He’s just a friend. That’s all. He doesn’t care about me in that way. He only sees me as a friend and if I tell him that I really like him, then the only consequence will be that I will lose a great friend.” She had said all this in a rush, while Amara stood smiling at her. “Stop smiling at me like that”, Eruanna finally said, smiling herself, and pulled her friend to class. Deep down Eruanna was saddened with the thought that he would never see her in that way and she couldn’t blame him. She was just a plain Jane; nothing special. But she couldn’t help dreaming about a future with him nonetheless.

Million Memorable Moments

Even before he was born he was loved. She was nervous when she first met him, because he was so tiny. She thought if she touched him, he would surely break. When those tiny little fingers first wrapped themselves around her little finger and held on, something magical happened. She felt like the luckiest person to have this little being in her life. Every worry and every stress was forgotten. It was pure happiness and bliss.

Pretty soon it was watching him run up to her, with the sweetest smile, when he saw her that gave her that warm, fuzzy feeling. It was always the little moments of laughter and giggles. It was even in the moments when she couldn't even eat a complete meal because he wanted her to carry him and take him somewhere. All of these moments spoke of an abundance of love.

She couldn’t remember what is was like discovering new things; the first glimpse of a plane flying overhead, the first interaction with a dog or cat, or the first time her feet touched the water at the beach. Just watching this little boy experience all these things for the first time made her smile and laugh.

She knew how difficult it was to find happiness in the world. There were conflicts between countries, corruption in governments, violent crimes plaguing the streets; but just spending time with an innocent child discovering the wonders of the world filled her heart with such love and happiness that all the bad things seem part of a different world.