“Mom, look at the poor kid,” my son anxiously pointed to the scruffy looking, emaciated street kid. True, it was a poor kid but there was something in the way he said it, that made me feel uncomfortable. It felt like we were passing by an aquarium and he saw a fish, instead of a little boy just like him.

I cautioned him not to call people poor because that is rude and he reasoned out but he is really poor, isn’t he? I’m at a loss, he was correct but it is not right to be casting labels on people. I am deeply bothered and as I processed, I realised, that my kid wouldn’t know those labels had I not used them myself. [Read more...]