Carlos.....

I am going to try to tell this story with detail but without my feelings ....

My housemate really wanted some pizza so we decided to accompany her. It was raining so when we got to Dominoes we decided to eat there. As I was on my second slice,(of a personal pan pizza) a child runs up and finds shelter from the rain at the entrance of the restaurant. He was definitely soaked. He looked so young. You could see that he was cold. He was carrying the little wooden box to shine shoes. He was just staring at the street.

I called for him… “Amigito! Veni!” (come here) So he did. I asked him if he wanted pizza. He said yes. So, I gave him my pizza (it was a personal so two slices were left.) He was so quiet… as he ate just staring at the floor. I could tell he was on the streets a lot bc of the familiar smell of when I worked in a homeless shelter.

I didn't want to make him uncomfortable but I also didn't want him to sit there in silence. So, while having a convesation...I found out....

His name was Carlos.
He was 9 and he worked from 8am – 11pm.
He had three brothers and he was the youngest. His other brother sold gum on the streets.

Then, my housemate asks... "do u go to schoo?" He said yes. I jumped in, "what time? (on the weekends or maybe it was seasonal I thought cause he said he worked 8am to 11pm)" He smiled and said ... "No, I dont go to school."

My housemate went and bought him a coke. When we were all done, we parted ways. It was around 9pm, so he still had two hours to work in the rain.

As I was walking back to the apartment. I felt a ball of grief in the pit of my stomach and the words “It is NOT fair!” stuck in my throat. Then I remembered what a 3L said. “I think it is easy for poor people to say to rich people, ‘hey, give some of it up so we can rise and you can fall – and we could meet in the middle!’ Bc if they (the poor) had money, they wouldn’t give it up.”

I don’t understand how she could believe that. Because if that is true - she is saying that all rich people are selfish and evil. That they would make the conscious choice to NOT give up privileges and luxuries so that others could have it and we could all be the same – we could meet in the middle. We could all have a fighting chance. Especially SINCE the rich people are directly linked to the causes contributing to Carlos' poverty.

If that is true.... then where is Diosito?