A Stirring Scene

My buddies and I went to Golden Triangle to get some clothes. It was pretty exhausting actually but had a good time nevertheless. Good purchases, good food, good friends. What else does one need?

Having dinner in Jalan Alor was actually a big eye-opener. A little girl bumped into me and I realised she was playing hopscotch on the pavement right next to the main road. She was playing and jumping over a manhole cover and every time she did, she ended up right at the edge of the pavement on the black-and-white line, sometimes teetering and waving her arms in windmills to balance and stop from falling right into the path of the oncoming cars.

As I walked away and when I looked back, I realised there was another younger girl, probably her sister, just lying on a little blanket right in the middle of the triangle, next to the traffic light pole.

What were they doing there? Why wasn't anyone looking after them? They were like, 12. My brother's age. What were they doing in the midst of thousands of strangers at 10pm in the middle of Kuala Lumpur? Two young little girls: one’s playing hopscotch and one’s napping on her blanket. It was probably one of the most stirring scenes I've ever seen in my life. I'm turning 19 in 33 days and I've never been hungry or cold or rejected or alone in my life.

Is it enough being aware? What do you do when there's so much you can't control going on in the world?

Then my buddies called from the escalator, and I left KL and the children behind.