A Shadow in Society

The air is dark and heavy. Constant smog fills the sky preventing the sun from shining. It feels like the sun is afraid to shine on our town because we are so poor. The pavement beneath my feet is cracked and filled with numerous potholes. To my left stand three drug lords doing what they do best. Right beside them stands a few prostitutes trying to make ends meat. To my right rests a destroyed building known as my school. It is around noon on a Wednesday and that building is nearly empty. I am thirteen years old and I have worn the same shredded red t-shirt and ripped jeans for almost three years now. I have consistent pains in my stomach that never go away. Life is extremely rough, but for some reason I continue to live.

Everyday I awaken with extreme back pains, due to the fact that I sleep on a concrete floor. I have one sheet that I curl up in several times in order to stay warm. Still wearing the same clothes as the last four days, I walk about five steps and enter our small and dingy kitchen. There is a tiny gas stove and a leaking refrigerator. I take a seat on a beaten up stool across from my father. I don’t bother with asking what is for breakfast because I already know. I walk over to the sink and drink a few gulps of the thick and lumpy water which flows from our sink. With a full day ahead of me, I walk into the darkness outside.

As soon as I step into the outdoors, I am greeted by the raunchy stink from the sewage pipes. The sewage in the city’s pipes are either clogged or explode the pipes and leak into the streets. I take a deep breathe and nearly choke on the smog which I breathe in. There are a few factories less than five miles from my house. The factories are the key contributors to why there is so much pollution in the air.

In front of me lie two equally destroyed paths. Both paths are littered with rocks and garbage. One goes to a school and the other to the playground. Lately I have been taking the path to the playground instead of school because I have been exposed to reality. I have realized that education is not very serious is my city. Due to the fact that the school is extremely run down and desperately needs to be renovated, school just doesn’t appear to be important. Sewage leaks in the basement and the majority of the lights are burned out. I don’t learn from text books and I usually get a new teacher every few weeks. I used to be interested in chemistry, but the lab was never used. With a disgusting and terrible learning environment, I have lost all my motivation to earn an education. I am going to end up as a textile worker or a drug dealer, just like the majority of men in my community.

I don’t need to learn to read or write because it is not important in my society. When I eventually obtain a job, I will learn from other and then produce my share. I will not learn from text books or write information. Manual labor is what I will do and I am content with that. At least I will be off the streets and making some sort of income. Reading is no big deal to me because there are no books to read. If we had a library I think my outlook might change. Literacy is not important to me because I don’t feel a need to be literate. My life is tough and it is difficult to make it through each day knowing that I will only eat one meal a day.