The angels don’t play here anymore. They flew away when the selfishness and shallowness rose up in clouds and blocked the last feeble tendrils of sunlight that once shone on me. Now my everydays have turned into discordant dirges defining the darkness and only demons and devils dance to the music.
The angels don’t play here anymore.
Musing now…
I can barely remember when the angels flew near and watched over me and I lived blessed by their love. I can vaguely remember the beautiful silver glint of the sun’s reflection off sweet golden angel wings. It was a beautiful and fortunate time in my life yet I was blithe and cavalier and I took those lovely angelic halcyon days for granted. I deserved them after all — I had them coming to me.
In my life the angels have come to visit me quite a few times but I never appreciated them when they were here. I took them as my due — I was special and I deserved the blessings of life.
But then I realize it’s not just my life the angels have abandoned; there’s a dearth of angels in this sad world of selfishness, avarice and pandering.
On the news last night, I saw a ten-minute clip of millions of starving children in Niger and didn’t see a single angel there. What I saw were ravaged children caressed by desperate mothers helpless to provide nourishment to their own flesh and blood and often watching their children die in one last weak and futile scream for something, anything, to eat.
But the world is awash in money and food is everywhere,still I watched as a Nigerian mother tried to feed her family of three young children with a pitiful soup made from a six tiny leaves she plucked from a nearby tree. This will be the last meal she’ll make from that tree this season. There are no more leaves on that tree.
I watched as a mother’s tears dripped onto the bloated abdomen of her starving child and then watched as the mother wailed in abject grief when the child died in her arms. I watch as the mother’s tears ran down the dead child’s belly.
We spend trillions on wars and cars and cell phones and makeup and gourmet cuisine. We deserve it – we are somehow the chosen ones but is only by dumb luck we weren’t born in a country like Niger. It is only providence that we aren’t trying to feed our children with a few shriveled leaves plucked from a gnarly tree.
While I’ve been busy on my tablet and you’ve been busy on your smart phone, ten-thousand more poor, helpless children have been taken by death and the most we can say is –“That’s a shame. But what can I do about it?” The biggest shame is that’s what we always say — we shrug and say “it’s too bad” the go back to worrying about the really important things like a new computer, our Facebook pages, buying a new phone or finding a new person to date.
The angels don’t play here anymore.
I didn’t recognize them when they were here before. All the good things that came my way when the angels were here have long since been perished ins swirling clouds of shallow selfishness and the endless quests for self-validation and self-gratification. That quest, of course is always futile. The angels don’t play here any more. They’ve long since flown away.
Somewhere the sun still shines pallid and weak. It will never be as sweet or as warm or as bright as it was when the angels graced my life. The demons and the dark sad, sick birds of death circle around waiting for my spirit to relinquish the last frail ounce of hope I have managed to keep inside.
The angels don’t play here anymore. There aren’t many angels left in this world of deep yet shallow darkness. While I wrote this, another 12,000 babies starved to death while our politicians spent enough on getting elected or re-elected in that same span of time, to have saved every single one of those poor, dying children.
It’s easy to say, “what can I do about it?” and carry on with our lives and our shallow pursuits. But I can’t seem to can’t get the images of that mother’s tears rolling down her dying baby’s bloated belly. I look around. I seems to me we’re all so selfish and self-centered, and some so greedy, and some so needy, that we actually believe that saying “what can I do about it?” is a valid excuse. With our excuses made we then can go on with our lives and soon forget how terribly those poor children suffer. Though we turn our faces and thoughts away from then, those children still suffer and starve to death.
As long as we don’t have to look at them or be reminded of them, the “what can I do about it” excuses us and assuages our consciences and allow us to pursue really important things:
“Wait until I tell my Facebook friends about my new boyfriend.”
“Wait until everyone finds out I got a new boat.”
“I can’t wait to get my new iPhone.”
“We’re going to dinner at that new four-star restaurant tonight. I’m so excited.”
Right now all I can see in my mind’s eye are all those poor, starving children. I know that every single one of them could be easily fed with the food we throw away every single day.
But what can we do about it?
The angels don’t play here anymore. They’ve all gone away.
What can I do about it?
What a great & TRUE essay. Thank you for writing it. What can we do? Donate a few cents a day to Feed The Children or other organizations like that. Check with your local churchs that have missions in these countries and donate there. Or as some of us don’t have 2 sous to rub together go to thehungersite dot com and click once a day so sponser donate a small amount. There’s always something can be done. And look around at your neighborhood food kitchens, we’ve got a lot of hungry children right here where there should absolutely be none!
Thanks again for the essay.
And TC, the really sad thing about the starving children and adults in other countries is that at the same time, this country of ours is full of obese people who eat far too much. You are so right about all of us – we have far more of everything than we will ever need or appreciate.
Ju Vy has valid points. Now how do we get the Aid Agencies and Governments to start addressing those points?
I am going to send Ju Vy’s message to Oxfam for a start.
When I was a child (50 years ago)our church collected money for starving people in Africa, money is still collected for the same cause… money is NOT working. Yes we are very lucky to live in a well off country and we should help, but there has to be more education.
If I can’t feed the children I have I do not put more children into the world just to watch them starve too. We need birth control. Where I live the government gives baby bonuses! That’s crazy… the world is overpopulated as it is… eventually more people will starve. Stabilize the world’s population …. that might just bring about other positive changes too. If countries don’t have to worry about running out of land and food they might not be so eager to start wars with their neighbours…. yeah.. I know….. it’s simplified.. but maybe someone out there can figure out how this would work? Something needs to change.. all the things that have been done so far have not worked.
This is a problem. If you donate money, it is going in someone else’s pocket, either for fees, or someone actually stealing the money. When the food arrives in the Country where it is supposed to, very little reaches the people that it was intended for as it is stolen by the workers and the governments and sold at vastly raised prices. It is a sad thing that there are so many crooks in the world. We all need help!
need more responsible adults…why would people bring children into this world under those conditions…i say instead of food…send condoms…when seeing those conditions, people should just have common sense…thanks for letting me tell it like it is…
I just don’t have the words. I certainly don’t have the solutions. I do have the goose bumps and tears caused by your poignantly and beautifully told story – and, sadly, I do have the unshakable feeling that this is simply the way most people are: greedy, shallow, selfish, hostile, thoughtless, and to varying degrees brainless. And worse, I don’t think this state of affairs will ever change – or is even able to be changed.
To answer one who mentioned our donations going into someone else’s pocket …
This shouldn’t be our concern when it comes to donating or giving. If we have given out of a heart that is right with God, we let Him worry about the rest. Those who wish to cheat God are in His hands, not ours.
I was quite surprised by this entry, which is certainly nothing to do with computer tips. This was truly a meaningful and beautiful message.
Even in our OWN COUNTRY there are children that are starving to death. When I think of how much money is being spent for someone to become our President it makes me ill. When I think of our national debt and inflation while our congressmen are giving themselves more and more benefits. Serve one term and retire for the rest of their lives at the amount of their salary while serving. I use the word serving loosely.
I feel very deeply about your letter. I feel that all the comments that were made before mine are so, so true and bring up very good points. I believe that the healing must start with in, first. I want to see my angles once again. I am starting on a journey to get back on the right path, so I can be able to help others in return. I pray every day…please god help me to make the right choises. If I can do this I may be able to help others that maybe able to make that differance, around this world. God is comming soon, some how…some way, there is an answer.
Are all the angels gone, or, is it up to each individual to choose to be an angel by doing at least one unselfish, loving, giving, anonymous act of mercy day-by-day? To rue what others are not doing dilutes the focus of our own responsibility to respond compassionately and do what we can to alleviate the suffering that deeply moves us.
I would like to share my opinion on this article. I know as our country can be selfish and sometimes not thinking right, we have had many people who have tried to help out, by sending money, food and other supports. We also know that a lot of our giving doesn’t always get to were its going. I am sorry for these people and I shed tears when I read about these dying children and don’t forget about their parents. There government is also corrupt and selfish. I believe even in the good USA, out government are also selfish corrupt, thinking of themselves and so on. May be one day they will get their punishment.
Always remember, when someone does a good deed for you, to pay it forward. There really are some good Samaritans still out there.