Picture and a thousand words

Take a look at the picture... Three children in the foreground, smiling, carrying roses they are trying to sell.

One child, a girl, has a closed smile, yet her face looks peaceful, calm almost. Another child has a smile revealing all her teeth, a genuine smile. Perhaps excitement at having her picture taken by a stranger with a fancy camera. They are walking dangerously on the narrow strip right on the traffic island. What is on their mind at such a tender age? Are they hungry, are they bemoaning what terrible conditions life has given them? Or are they just living from moment to the next, trying to earn their next meal by being exposed to the dangers of the traffic, the soot, the heat and the absence of a childhood of play and being care-free?
A flashy white car zooms past without stopping. Perhaps the driver and the passengers did not even blink at the children, because there are far too many of them to care. Or perhaps the hearts of those inside car, for a split moment just before their minds become again reabsorbed by the mundaneness of their daily life and routine, were so pained by what they saw, by the sense of hopelessness and powerlessness they felt at being unable to change what they see...

It is a very simple picture, yet underneath is the description that in parts of India, people survive on three times less than the global poverty according to the World Bank.

A picture can paint more than a thousand words. It can capture the life of others that we so easily forget. It can capture the suffering, bliss, pain and joy of others and remind us what simple joy there is to be had, lest we forget, or remind us of what real suffering means, also lest we forget...