The Girl Who Had No Sandals

About a month ago, I met a little girl at school. She was crying quietly at a corner... I watched her shoulders heave as she sobbed.. I saw her try unsuccessfully to use the back of her palms to stop the tears from flowing.. I watched the other children look at her as the passed and I saw the different expressions on their faces. Some of them were puzzled, some were indifferent, some were amused.. A few showed concern, but they didn't stop to ask the little girl why she was crying. I walked past her too, but then I turned back and went to sit beside her. She didn't even notice, but after a while, she must have realized there was someone beside her, because she looked up at me- startled. I asked her why she was crying and she only cried harder. Then finally, in a soft voice that was barely audible, she narrated how she had been punished at school for not wearing the uniform she had been given a week earlier. I reminded her that the school reserved the right to punish anyone who flaunted the rules of the school. She nodded her head agreeably. I asked her why she had refused to put on the school uniform, and she said it was because she did not have school sandals. I was about to say "what about the one you are wearing now?", when I looked down at her feet and saw the sandals she was wearing. They were torn, old and shriveled. "How can I wear these sandals with my new school uniform? My mother said she's still saving for new ones". She didn't need to say anything more. I understood. I looked at her small feet and I made up my mind to buy her new sandals.

Today, I came across that little girl again.. She was wearing the sandals I bought for her.. She waved at me with the brightest smile and it made my day.. I remembered her teary face a month, seeing her so happy was the best feeling in the world!



Everyday in life, I'm reminded of God's goodness. Of how far I've come and how far He's brought me. Everyday I'm presented with circumstances to give back from all I've been given. Sometimes, we need to see the littleness of other people's problems, to appreciate the bigness of our God through the littlest of our blessings. Sometimes we refuse to be bothered by the needs of the people around us, because we feel it is not our problem, or we have 'bigger' problems in our own lives. It is amazing what big difference a small random act of kindness can do for someone who is in dire need. Eleanor Roosevelt once said "Caring comes from being able to put yourself in the position of the other person; if you cannot imagine, 'This might happen to me, ' you are able to say with indifference, 'Who cares.'"