As I approached from behind I was torn. Do I stop and attempt to intervene?
The quiet street was shady and smooth. It was also on my preferred route as I headed out to work. Normally I would see residents walking their dogs, but this morning it was different. A young maid had a two-year-old boy by the hand, trying to lead him. The distress on his face and expressed by his body was clear to everyone! When you added the loud and distressing cry of protest, it was a situation that screamed for an intervention. As I turned and looked into his eyes the emotions were clear. Abandonment. Fear. Angst.
I knew it was not my role. I also understood that there was little or nothing that I could do.
Pushing one’s self into a situation is not always the answer. Sometimes one must stand aside. There are times where watching is painful. You may understand. You may have travelled the same steps. Knowing this does not take away the intensity of one’s emotions and in this situation did not reduce the intensity in any way.
They did not know me. I was outside of their trust cycle.
The young boy looked back at me, his anguished face morphing into a plea for a parent he could not see. He quickly turned away from me to bury his face in the maid’s clothing. It was as if he was crying within, I have been abandoned, “picked clean by wayfaring strangers, [made] a joke to all the neighbors.” (Psalm 89.41)
The best that I could do was to offer a prayer and turn my eyes away. Even as I rode on I could hear muffled cries.
It is painful and debilitating to feel abandoned. Frequently abandonment comes with lots of ugly emotional friends. To the kid and myself, I offer the following reminders.
We are part of a larger story and family.
God is always closer than we think.
Hope lives, even when we cannot see, feel it, or believe that it still exists.
We belong.
