Today, my heart was broken…again. Technically stolen, then broken….by an 8 year old boy named Ali.
Today was a crazy day. There were a lot of troublemakers trying to steal food, cut in line, jump the fence, etc.
After dealing with 3 men who were old enough to know better, I noticed this little boy sitting on the fence. The same little boy I had pulled off 5 times already. With a sigh, I walked over to him. Leaning on the fence, I pointed to the ground. He shook his head with a big toothy grin.
A little bit exasperated, I picked him up, pried his little fingers off, and set him on the ground. This happened at least 5 more times.
Finally, as I walked over to him for the last time, The still small voice spoke to me and I realized that I was only telling him what he couldn’t do. I wasn’t enabling him to do anything else. Then I realized that I could tell him what to do, but he had no reason to do it. After all, everyone he saw was cheating and being dishonest.
With a grunt, I lifted him off the fence and onto my shoulders. Ali shrieked and wriggled trying to get down, but he was stuck. I started walking to the back of the line with the words “you can’t change the world, but you can change somebody’s world” running through my mind.
Arriving at the back of the line, Ali was furious and was yelling at random people, trying to get them to tell me to put him down and I had to do a lot of explaining.
Finally we got to the long, fenced-in corridor preceding the food line and I set him down. He had relaxed and was chatting at me and with the other kids in line. One of the girls spoke English and explained to me that Ali didn’t have a father, only a mother and 4 siblings.
My heart was crushed. This boy had no role model and the only men he saw were those who were frustrated and angry with the current situation. He couldn’t learn any form of love or maturity because there was no one to teach him.
Picking up a wire from the dilapidated fence, I started repairing the fence and hanging it back up on the posts as we slowly made our way through the line. Ali watched with curiosity, then jumped in enthusiastically. He would hold up the fence while I wired it and vice versa. He worked his little butt off. Did the fence need to be repaired? No. Did Ali? Yes, and post by post, Ali and I worked hard fixing this fence.
By the time we got to the food, Ali didn’t even want it, he wanted to keep working. I guided him through and watched him get his now hard-earned food that he had previously spent the entire morning trying to steal.
As we exited, he glanced at me then took off running to join his friends with his soup, roll, and orange.
They say a single moment can change a lifetime, and with God, all things are possible. I hope and pray that God guides him as he continues to grow.
Ali took my heart with him as he ran off, but I hope he took so much more. As for me, if that was the only life God uses me to impact this month, I’ll still be contented.
God bless you Ali….
