So I have been thinking here lately, EVERY time that I get on the train that, you know what...where is my Metro act...and every day I am disappointed because ZERO, NADDA, NOTHING happens...Well yesterday that all came to an end...but not in the way that you think..
So I take a seat on the Yellow Line from King Street and you know I am talking on the celly as usual...and this woman and her three kids get on the train as well...now this doesn't seem unusual to me, but then the mother asks the oldest of the three girls, "do you have your paper?" she says yes and then the mother proceeds to tell her to ask the lady next to her on the train...
So the little girl reaches in her pocket pulls out a rinkled up piece of paper and starts on this spill about please give us money because we are homeless, help a homeless family by buying some cinnamon buns...not only is the oldest (who looks about 9 or 10) doing this to the lady sitting right next to her and in front of me, but the mother has also instructed the other two little girls who look about 6/7 and 4/5 to do the same.
So all three of the girls go around the train, doing their spill, getting their hustle on, the whole time the mother is sitting next to me. She never gets up she never even looks around to see if the girls are ok...she just let them go off and do their thing. Never once did she ask me for any money, I figured that she wouldn't because I would say NO (you will understand later), NOT ONE did SHE (the mother) ask anyone for any money...
NO she USED her three kids to do that...that's right I said it, she used her kids....
I got off the train with a very heavy feeling in my heart about the entire situation. First I actually felt bad for the little girls, because whether or not they are homeless, their mother is using them all day long it seems to me to pimp people for money while she does nothing...she uses her kids to play on peoples emotions to get money...every time a child got some money from someone they promptly brought it back to their mother, just like a whore would do for her pimp.
It hurts to know that these little girls could be in summer camp or programs, even if homeless, and doing stuff that little girls should do, but already they are being introduced to the hard, harsh, real world...with "getting money" for your family being made a priority to them at an early age when it shouldn't be their responsibility.
Second, I felt wired because it only confirmed just how cynical I am to "beggars" like me, if I see you on the street and I am going into a store I will offer to buy you something to eat, a bag of chips, a sandwich, something, but I won't give you money. You may honestly be on the streets because of hard times, but I don't know that...I actually tried to give a man fruit once and he was like if its not a drink I don't want it...that right was my lesson! But I have also asked several people if they wanted food and they did and took it...so that is what I do...I will give you something to eat and say a little prayer for you as I walk away. Even with those three little girls I refused to give them any money, because it wouldn't got to THEIR needs, but rather THEIR mothers wants....
Third, should I have said something to the woman about what she was doing with HER kids? Did I have the right to tell her, look lady, get it together if you want to hustle then you hustle but them three precious little girls right there ain't got nothing to do with it...you do what YOU got to do, but let them kids be just that KIDS, they had too small clothes, all three with little too short mini skirts...it was like she was selling them in more ways than one...
It was really distributing to see this on the train yesterday...but I see it more often than you think...parents getting their kids to ask for money to play on peoples emotions...its just not right....I mean I can't even imagine how hard it is to be a single parent (and that's assuming that she is a single parent) with one child let alone three...and yes sometimes you got to do what you got to do, but key word here people is YOU! That's not their responsibility to provide for you and THEM, that's yours! You get up off your butt and you make things happen, you don't use your kids to hustle money...You just don't do it!
But then, to top it off...
WHERE WAS THE CINNAMON BUNS THEY WAS SUPPOSED TO BE SELLING?
7 comments:
these had to be the same exact kids i seen around my job last week!!!! with the same signs and no cinnamon buns....dag they are really traveling....unless there are more mothers w/ three daughters sellin imaginary cinnamon buns....yeah this was sad to see...... your lil sis bout to go back to school (KW)
That's what I was thinking that they travel and that's why I say she is hustlin them kids...reason being she did say "dag, this was short ride I am going to have to take the yellow line back to DC more often"
and I am thinking to myself...yeap she is hustling her kids...
I am SO going to MISS you! Make sure you keep in touch and check the blog for updates on my totally funny life!
Hopefully K.V.W. will get her new ride soon and you can take over the white pony....LOL
That's sad. You pretty much said it all. Of course I could go on and on about this and how disheartening it is, but I won't even waste my time because you made all the points I would have.
The one thing I do want to do is answer your question. It's not your place to say something to the mother. No matter how much you want to, it's just not. You're not her significant other, family member, paster, or someone else who is in her life and knows who she is, what she's been through, and perhaps why she's doing what she's doing. So I wouldn't say that you should have said something to her. I understand your urge to want to say something though.
Now if those girls were in imminent danger by doing this, that's when you gotta step up and say something. Like if she was sending them to Benning Road and B streets to buy her crack and/or weed, then somebody needs to be saying something to her crazy a$$. But this is something that will probably come back to haunt her if those kids ever grow up and really become responsible adults with minds of their own and who can stand on their own two feet. Just like Keyshia Cole and how she deals with her mom's eff-ups.
EXACTLY! That's why I didn't say something to her...it wasn't my place...but then begs the question, when is it my place? Does it HAVE to get that far gone with her having her kids buy her drugs for her or her selling them (physically) for drug money? When do you say something? I don't know I got the feeling that IF I did say something I would have probably gotten a beat DOWN right there on the train...so I just left it lone....
Young, that is wild. I think I would have just been looking at her in shock had I been in your place. My first thought about it though is, just how far is she willing to go to get money and what will she make those girls do. Right now it's imaginary cinnamon buns but when they are all teens and need more money is it gonna be something more extreme...really sad!!! And I resent that B Street & Benning Road comment...That's exactly where my family is from. Seriously!!! LOL.
East Cap and Benning Road is my old area. Yeah, it is crazy Tiff. Just remember to let it strengthen and not weaken you. It should strengthen your resolve as a mentor and as a child of the Most High. Keep keepin', homie!
Peace,
Kep.
This doesn't discourage me to that point...its just a sad situation, and I totally agree with your Danger that eventually things will worse...I say a prayer every night about stuff like this...I will keep right on keeping on with mentoring kids...that won't change because of this
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