Gaining "better views of humanity"

John Parrott

The taxi came to its inevitable standstill. Traffic simply could not move. The bus alongside belched diesel exhaust in through the window of the taxi and out the other side. The temperature was near the 100°F mark. Pedestrians could barely move, and that included the children begging for a living. Horns were blaring. People were jammed together. The city was at its normal midday standstill.

A few feet away a youngster perched on the edge of a traffic island. In the midst of the clamor he looked the picture of dejection. At that moment he glanced up and caught the eye of a passenger in the taxi. A smile flashed across his face. Then he vanished as more people crowded around him.

If ever there was graphic evidence of the population explosion and its impact, I was seeing it on this trip to a third-world country. At the same time I kept thinking about the inextinguishable spark of that boy's zest for life, which shone through.

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