A few months ago while I was on my way home from work, I got stuck in traffic along Shaw Boulevard in Mandaluyong when I saw this little girl in the middle of the traffic selling flowers to motorists.
I will be honest; I don’t readily give money to street people. I’ve been fooled more than once by people who stopped me in the street saying they lost their wallets and they need money to go back to the province, only to be stopped the next day by the same person with the same story. I mean come on, at least keep track of the people you lie to.
But being a parent, I do have a soft spot for children who are forced to work. More now than I did before. This particular little girl that I saw was probably no older than 5 years old and she was selling Sampaguita flower necklaces. It broke my heart seeing how she had to run from car to car during the traffic, inhaling all the carbon monoxide fumes while trying to sell the flowers she had in one hand.
She didn’t even have to say anything; as soon as she got in front of my window I already had a crisp bill ready. I handed her the money and told her that she could just keep or sell the flowers because I really didn’t need them. She insisted that I take the flowers. When I continued to refuse she quickly placed the string of flowers on my steering wheel and immediately left.
I was a little caught off guard. I even felt a little embarrassed of the fact that I probably made her feel bad when I refused to take her flowers. She was selling flowers and it was what she intended to trade money with.
Now a few weeks ago, while Cathy and I were walking along the sidewalk outside EDSA Shangri La mall (again along Shaw Boulevard, not very far from where I saw the first girl) we were stopped by another little girl selling flowers.
The weather that night was pretty nasty as it was raining all day. The little girl who was selling us flowers was damp, she had dirty sticky hair and actually had no umbrella with her as she approached us; I don’t think she even had any sandals on.
Cathy asked how much are all the remaining flowers she had. The little girl said around twenty pesos. I pulled all the loose change I had collecting in my pocket, which was close to thirty pesos or more and I handed it to the little girl.
Like the first girl I told you about earlier, she refused to take the flowers. She begged for us to take them so persistently that she even followed Cathy and I as we were about to cross the street. I stopped and tried to explain, “I don’t need the flowers, you can still get extra money by selling these. Or you can keep it, it doesn’t matter, it’s yours now.”
What she told me next stabbed me like a knife in the chest and made me stop arguing, “Kuya, parang awa nyo na kunin nyo na po ito, pagod na pagod na po ako, gusto ko na po mag pahinga.” (Sir, I beg of you, please take these flowers, I’m very tired and I really want to rest.) Without saying a word, I took the flowers and watched her fade into the busy wet street.
I cannot articulate how mad I felt! I could imagine how the children who are forced to sell Sampaguitas in the streets are probably being watched to make sure that they only rest after all the flowers are sold. That would explain why the children were so adamant on having people take it off their hands.
When Cathy told me that she was pregnant with Frances, I was so overwhelmed by the amount of responsibility I was going to have that I missed out on some of the excitement of being a dad.
I’ve got nothing against poor people, but damn it pisses me off how some of them could just decide to have children without thinking of the consequences. And what really pisses me off even more is how they don’t just make one, they keep spawning babies like childcare was the easiest and most affordable thing in the world!
So you screwed up your life and you are trying to work out the hand that you are dealt with. That’s ok; just leave the children out of it!!! Let them play!!! Let them be kids!!!
Not everyone stops to smell and buy the flowers!
