“I am wandering. I have no family and no home. I belong to no one,” the little boy told himself as he looked around from his safe haven up in the tree. It was one of those nights that were black as pitch and the stars were twinkling like diamonds in a rich woman’s wedding ring. The boy knew it wasn’t safe in the park but he chose to stay there anyway. This park was the one familiar place he had left. Everything else had vanished along with his parents.
At first glance you would think all is right in the little boy's life. He was a sweet, innocent child running around joyously with the other children in the park. But what you don't know is the slide he is currently going down will become his bed tonight as he lies there shivering violently wondering why his parents don't love him. What you don't know is tonight he will have to scavenge a few scraps of food to eat. What you don't know is that he is wondering if he will even make it through the night.
After several months of this the boy is soon taken into a group of other street children, most with stories similar to his. On the first night he was there one of the other children asked him a question. "Where do you see yourself after you get off the street?", she asked timidly. He replied, "It doesn't matter what I want to do, you can't get anywhere from here." The small girl looked at him with her mouth agape. "Bu-Bu-But why do you say that?” she stammered, shocked that this small child of only eight years old could be so negative. Confidently he cleared his throat, "I have lost everything and yet nothing at all. When my parents gave up on me, I gave up on everyone. Why look forward to being part of a world where people with so much complain about not having something when I have lived years with nothing but the clothes on my back to call my own? Why look forward to having other people depend on me when I have nobody to depend on myself? Why should I be positive in a world that thrives on negativity?" The little girl stood there dumbfounded as the small child finished his speech with "I have lost everything and yet nothing at all. I've lost my faith in the world. They've finally killed off the little hope I had left. I am hopeless.