A moment I wish I could change

6/20/13

            This post is rather short, because I only intend to paint a picture of a culminating moment of the day…

            I spent the second half of our day at Central College Primary School. The first thing on the agenda was a school wide debate on the topic, “A teacher is better than a doctor.” You could tell that each student had been prepared to fight to the death over his or her stance. “Teachers are the ones who teach doctors in the first place!” some students yelled. This was immediately combatted with, “You can teach and teach and teach, but at the end of the day who will you go to in order to save your life? A teacher? No. A doctor.” Needless to say, it was outstanding to see such a sustained and heated debate over a tough topic.

            Upon the conclusion of the debate, the students were rewarded with some free playtime. Some decided to play a boy vs girl game of handball, others decided to ride the merry-go-round, and others decided to rest on the sidelines. Everything seemed to be in accordance with the typical 10-year-old free time. There was lots of screaming, laughing, playing, and those kids that are way too competitive for their own good. I was watching from the sidelines in an attempt to relive my childhood days through their fun and excitement. The merry-go-round caught my eye. As the kids piled on and spun it faster and faster, my attention was diverted to a little boy who had just kicked a large water jug. This happened to be one of the jugs used to collect their drinking water from the nearby borehole. It was at this moment when the emotions of the day drastically changed from that of intrigue and fun to a moment of shock and confusion.

            As soon as the boy kicked the jug, he began to untie his pants. He couldn’t have been no further than 10 feet from the merry-go-round, as the kids right next to him were jumping on to join their classmates. After untying his pants, the boy exposed his genitals and began to urinate on top of the jug. I didn’t know what to think. His classmates saw him, yet no one bothered to stop what was going on. Even worse, no one seemed to care. As soon as the boy was finished, he pulled up his pants and joined the students on the merry-go-round. It was as if nothing had happened at all – and I wish with every inch of my being that that were the case. Better yet, I wish someone had stopped him. I wish I had stopped him. The reality is that I didn’t. I still do not know what to even think about the situation. It’s a moment I will always look back on and wish it did not exist.