Toby
read this if you care about humanity whatsoever.
So, I've come to a conclusion. Actually, i came to it in China, but never got around to posting it. It really disterbed me, and i lost some sleep over it. when i tell people about it now, it doesn't sound nearly as bad as it did when i got told about/saw it.
So, the kids that i went to China with and I are walking...i think we had just left the forbidden city/teinemen square. Many beggars. Many many beggers. I see this one, and i get a glimpse of him and think he had some horrible birth defect. so i didn't look at him (i was scared because i'm a cunt).
we cross the street blah blah blah, and we look back across the road (traffic was horrible) and we see that kid. we get a better look at him, and we thought he was mentally special, so we were considering crossing the road and helping him back across so he doesn't get hit by a car, but then we realized he seemed to know what he was doing.
he deftly crosses the road, and goes to where we are with another woman, who we're assuming was his mom. He kept coming really close to us, and kate (the only one who would actually look at him) realizes it's not a birth defect! It's burns. His face was litterally melted. his arms look like they're melted to his sides. I'm scared to look at him (thanks to my cunt-ness).
Since i try to look for the best in people, i was thinking, ok, he got in a fire, or some accident.
It was probably no accident. He's actually melted. like dropped-into-a-pot-of- burning-oil-when-he-was-a-baby melted.
Emily and Kate had both heard of it. It's not necessarily true in Toby's case (we decided that while giving him a name that isn't really his isn't the greatest, it's much better then referring to him as "the boy with the melted face" or "that kid". So his name is Toby, to us at least). but regardless of whether this actually happened to him, according to Kate, it still happens to people.
So, according to Kate, who explained the entire thing to me, there's this underground organization. the master or whatever of the beggars says which beggars can beg where. all the money they get begging goes into a big community pool, where it is distributed relatively equally to all the beggars. No one's left with absolutely nothing. However, sometimes they feel they're not getting enough money, so they need to create pity. Oh, look at this poor boy who was in a fire. well, we wasn't in a fire. but we'll make it look like he was.
Even if this wasn't true in Toby's case, it still happens. People get mutilations performed on them by these "masters". a bunch of people were missing arms too. but what we think happened to him (if not, it still happens regardless, this just kinda opened our eyes) was that he was born with a birth defect, so either the masters or his parents added to it over time. i wonder if that's all part of this system. but Toby was most likely mutilated so they could arouse pity in people so they'll give him more money. and that horribley disterbed me. telling it and reading it back to myself, it doesn't sound as bad as it did when i was told about it. maybe cause i saw it too. or maybe the way Kate told me about it.
what also disterbed me was my reaction. i treated this boy (who was prolly about my age) like a fucking monster. i didn't look at him. i was afraid of the way he looked and i was more concerned more about keeping him away from me then anything else. AND IT PROBABLY WASN'T HIS FAULT. i mean, it's still possible that he did get into some type of machanical accident, which is why i say probably too.
i wish i had smiled at him and said hello or something, anything nicer then what i did. i should have treated him like a human. he's a person. not a monster. so that's one reason why i'm writing about this now, so that when and if YOU ever see anyone in this situation, you'll not do what i did, you'll treat him like the person he is.
But the mutilations continue to be performed.
And people keep continue to be apathetic.
all because of this system we have, where money is a necessity.
i hate money. maybe not money itsself. i hate how the system we have relies so heavily on it. and i think that's the one thing i truely hate. the materialistic relyance. and how no one can really function without money. there has to be another way. how absence of a piece of paper can be the difference between food and starving, warmth or rain and snow, a "normal" face or a melted one. everyone's a person. and they should be treated like one.
i wish someone had taken a picture of him that i could post. just so you could see. it's so...
it makes all of this drama seem so dumb. so fucking dumb. so...ignorant, in a way. petty. but a more extreme word then petty.
it really should make you appreciate everything. even the little, tiny, seemingly negligable nano things.
thank God for Toby.
love everybody.
So, I've come to a conclusion. Actually, i came to it in China, but never got around to posting it. It really disterbed me, and i lost some sleep over it. when i tell people about it now, it doesn't sound nearly as bad as it did when i got told about/saw it.
So, the kids that i went to China with and I are walking...i think we had just left the forbidden city/teinemen square. Many beggars. Many many beggers. I see this one, and i get a glimpse of him and think he had some horrible birth defect. so i didn't look at him (i was scared because i'm a cunt).
we cross the street blah blah blah, and we look back across the road (traffic was horrible) and we see that kid. we get a better look at him, and we thought he was mentally special, so we were considering crossing the road and helping him back across so he doesn't get hit by a car, but then we realized he seemed to know what he was doing.
he deftly crosses the road, and goes to where we are with another woman, who we're assuming was his mom. He kept coming really close to us, and kate (the only one who would actually look at him) realizes it's not a birth defect! It's burns. His face was litterally melted. his arms look like they're melted to his sides. I'm scared to look at him (thanks to my cunt-ness).
Since i try to look for the best in people, i was thinking, ok, he got in a fire, or some accident.
It was probably no accident. He's actually melted. like dropped-into-a-pot-of- burning-oil-when-he-was-a-baby melted.
Emily and Kate had both heard of it. It's not necessarily true in Toby's case (we decided that while giving him a name that isn't really his isn't the greatest, it's much better then referring to him as "the boy with the melted face" or "that kid". So his name is Toby, to us at least). but regardless of whether this actually happened to him, according to Kate, it still happens to people.
So, according to Kate, who explained the entire thing to me, there's this underground organization. the master or whatever of the beggars says which beggars can beg where. all the money they get begging goes into a big community pool, where it is distributed relatively equally to all the beggars. No one's left with absolutely nothing. However, sometimes they feel they're not getting enough money, so they need to create pity. Oh, look at this poor boy who was in a fire. well, we wasn't in a fire. but we'll make it look like he was.
Even if this wasn't true in Toby's case, it still happens. People get mutilations performed on them by these "masters". a bunch of people were missing arms too. but what we think happened to him (if not, it still happens regardless, this just kinda opened our eyes) was that he was born with a birth defect, so either the masters or his parents added to it over time. i wonder if that's all part of this system. but Toby was most likely mutilated so they could arouse pity in people so they'll give him more money. and that horribley disterbed me. telling it and reading it back to myself, it doesn't sound as bad as it did when i was told about it. maybe cause i saw it too. or maybe the way Kate told me about it.
what also disterbed me was my reaction. i treated this boy (who was prolly about my age) like a fucking monster. i didn't look at him. i was afraid of the way he looked and i was more concerned more about keeping him away from me then anything else. AND IT PROBABLY WASN'T HIS FAULT. i mean, it's still possible that he did get into some type of machanical accident, which is why i say probably too.
i wish i had smiled at him and said hello or something, anything nicer then what i did. i should have treated him like a human. he's a person. not a monster. so that's one reason why i'm writing about this now, so that when and if YOU ever see anyone in this situation, you'll not do what i did, you'll treat him like the person he is.
But the mutilations continue to be performed.
And people keep continue to be apathetic.
all because of this system we have, where money is a necessity.
i hate money. maybe not money itsself. i hate how the system we have relies so heavily on it. and i think that's the one thing i truely hate. the materialistic relyance. and how no one can really function without money. there has to be another way. how absence of a piece of paper can be the difference between food and starving, warmth or rain and snow, a "normal" face or a melted one. everyone's a person. and they should be treated like one.
i wish someone had taken a picture of him that i could post. just so you could see. it's so...
it makes all of this drama seem so dumb. so fucking dumb. so...ignorant, in a way. petty. but a more extreme word then petty.
it really should make you appreciate everything. even the little, tiny, seemingly negligable nano things.
thank God for Toby.
love everybody.