HOPE MATTERS

The young woman trolls streets littered with trash and seedy people, scanning for a buyer. You watch intently as she bends down to talk to a man who pulled his car up to the curb where she’s waiting. You wonder how she got there and how she can do what she does. Suddenly, she notices you watching her. All she wants is to be like you because she’s long since forgotten who she is.

She barely resembles a real person. She’s convinced that there is no way out and that she faces a bleak future. She can’t imagine anyone wanting to help her, and she’s too confused and ashamed to help herself. She is, after all, a prostitute. Just look beyond the skimpy, tattered clothes and worn-out, high-heeled shoes, and you’ll recognize a person no different than you are. She was taken from her family and forced to sell her body.

Now do you view her differently? You know you should help her because underneath all the makeup and shabby clothing, there is an unwilling participant who is just looking for someone to give her a small sign of hope.

Do something, because hope matters.

~Paige Dearth     A Quoem , my definition of a Quote/Poem