Remembering a Smile

"One little girl sticks out in my mind. She was sitting outside of the school on a curb with about eight other children. As soon as I saw her, I couldn't take my eyes off her. For some reason she didn't receive anything we were giving to the other children. Finally realizing this, one of us quickly got her an extra notebook. She looked at it, smiled, and placed it on her lap. Another one of us took a pen out of her bag and gave it to (her). She looked very content with our second offering and started drawing circles in her notebook. Satisfied with her work, she closed her notebook and tightly held her pen in her fist. As I watched her, tears overwhelmed my eyes and came running down my face. I'm not sure why I started crying. Maybe it was the sight of joy that was produced from our simple offering. Maybe it was a feeling of shame n me having so much and her having so little. Maybe it was the feeling of hope n being able to take a step to make a change. Maybe it was the sight of pure beauty in front of me n innocent and untainted. Or perhaps it was the thought that for one moment I connected with another human being who represented a world I know nothing about." Erin Leach