Name:
Ethel Kam
Age:
11
School:
St Nicholas Girls’ School (Primary)
Class:
P5 Justice
A
light shone in the darkness.
The
light grew brighter and brighter, filling my vision with the span of its
wonder. Then, I heard a soft, fleeting sound - laughter. The light became a
blur and the blur became figures, which were people. The people, I took to be a
big family. Feasting. The people in the family were different. There were the
intellectually disabled, the physically handicapped; the aged and the young.
But they all shared one thing:
Happiness.
Happiness
radiated from them. The smiles on their faces were sincere and their laughter
were not dry ones. The purity of their love and togetherness drew me in and I
curiously observed them until they had finished their meal. Some members of the
big family bid the rest farewell and exited the house in cheery spirits. I
followed one of the family members out into the open.
The
usual apathetic crowd was not to be seen here. Instead, joy and kindness were
displayed on the people around us. There were people who looked a bit tired,
but they had a look of satisfaction from fulfilment.
I
saw someone who stuck out like a sore thumb. He had the ragged look of a
criminal, and my suspicions were confirmed when I heard murmurings of the
people around me: “Isn’t he that notorious thief?” He seemed to sense the
unsettled state of the people around him, and his head drooped, probably in
embarrassment. A friend of his, or maybe a kind stranger, went up to him and
comforted him until his face showed hints of a smile which reached to his eyes.
When I saw him, I was also compelled to smile. How great the effects of
kindness!
Shortly
after, I turned my attention back to the person I was following. I realised
that he was intellectually disabled; I identified him as autistic. My thoughts
drifted to my brother, who similarly had autism. Sometimes, people would stare
or look annoyed by his unique behaviour. However, here, the people around the
autistic person I was following smiled at him, and the ones who were more
familiar with him tried to interact or be friendly with him. The fact that
community accepted him instead of labelling him as ‘weird’ touched me. As I
looked at all these examples of love displayed in various forms throughout the
community, I felt a warmth spread in me, and the only word that came to my mind
to describe this truly wonderful world was:
Perfect.
At
this point, a hint of darkness hindered my sight and the feeling of being
pulled away from the present scene rushed through my body. The feeling grew
stronger, and my body screamed out, trying to hold out. My vision blurred
once again, and the people turned into shadows which turned into what we can
safely say - nothing at all. My mind sank back into reality, and I lay on my
bed, feeling utterly defeated. My mind was still contemplating the fact that
the perfect world I had been in merely seconds ago was a dream, and that I will
never see that world again. The feeling gradually overwhelmed me, taking its
form in a sort of melancholy: I felt defeated, sad and, maybe a little angry at
how that world had just slipped through my fingers, allowing me only a taste of
it before disappearing into thin air.
A
spark ignited in me; it was called Hope.
That
world could exist. That world could become reality. Suddenly, I understood what
that world was. That world was -
Our
future.
(598
words)
