50,000 Dollars

By Josie Brasher

There are many unfortunate people in the world, and I feel concerned for them al I. It's the homeless and parentless little children though, that I am concerned about the most.

I used to live in the small town of Midland, which is in west Texas. Near Midland, there was a bigger town called Abilene, in which there was a huge orphanage right in the center of town. Every time we drove by it, my mother would point it out and say, "That's where the poor little babies and children live if they don't have a Mommy or Daddy." I looked at the orphanage and wondered what it must be like. In there were some children my age that didn't have the good, kind parents that I did. I felt guilty as I looked at the plain brick house with a black, forbidding picket fence, knowing that there were probably some children looking out the window at us.

One time there was a brochure from one of the missions that supplies food for the homeless people in Africa, asking us to donate food or money. As my mother and I looked through the brochure, one of the pictures caught my eye. In the picture, there was a girl holding her one year old little brother on her back looking for food in the garbage. Both the baby and the girl looked hungry, but there was something else in the girl's eyes. As I studied it I realized it was the look of helplessness. This girl was about my age, and she already has the responsibility of an adult! It made me think about how lucky I was to have parents that could help me prepare for adulthood.