Power and poverty
Rafiqul Islam Rime, Agrabad, Chittagong
We all know that Bangladesh is a poor country. Our society is divided into three classes: one is the affluent class who have amassed money through illegal means, the second one is the middle class- the worst victim of the misdistribution, and the third one is the lower or average class who fail to make both ends meet. People in our country live in a queer way in this tilted balance of power and poverty. The other day while crossing the Sheikh Mujib Road at Agrabad, Chittagong, I happened to witness a horrific situation. When I got on the footpath and started walking, my friend beside me made me halt all of a sudden. I stopped and looked at him. His eyes directed my attention at two begging children sleeping on the footpath over a dirty piece of cloth. I tried to find out something as I was stopped. I found them of very tender age and poor health. My friend opened up a different dimension of the scene. He told that the kids were induced by sleeping pills by their parents or pretending parents. Their parents drop them in the morning and collect them at night and collect the alms given by the kindhearted people and some day the poor kids meet the kind death. I agreed to his point on the fact that otherwise they wouldn't be able to keep them sleeping for the whole daylong. He further pointed out that this phenomenon exists across the busy roads of the country. He lamented that though scores of people pass by them every day none takes any notice of them, and none comes up with any sort of concern for the destitute children. He finished his topic by saying that even he didn't do any thing for them on the thought that what good would that bring when everyone overlooks them. I felt extremely small and ashamed and thought how our politicians, social workers talk about bringing hopes for all in the society and eventually forget them forever.
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