The Boy In The Window
One day while I was shopping with my mother, we werewalking past a store with a big front window. In this windowthere was a little boy, just standing there looking back at me.He had a black eye and bruised cheek. And the look in hiseyes was so sad. They were filled with so much pain andsadness that just looking into them brought tears to my eyes.And I turned away.
Some years later, while walking past the store again, I sawthat same little boy. He had grown some but it was apparentthat it was the same boy. He still had bruised cheeks and hisnose was taped up from being broken. In his eyes I could stillsee all his pain, his loneliness, his sadness. Once again it broughttears to my eyes, and once again I turned away.
In my teenage years, I walked past the store again. And againthe boy was there. He had grown into a tall young man. Nobruises on his face this time. But his eyes had changed. Theyhadn't lost their sadness or their pain or loneliness, but they hadtaken on a hard edge. Looking into his eyes this time scared me.This time I not only turned away but I walked faster than I hadbefore because I couldn't bear to see this boy's eyes anymore.
Since I've been a man, I haven't gone back to that store. Maybebecause I'm afraid to see the man that boy has become. I wasgoing to go once, but I decided I didn't need that in my life at thispoint. I mean what is he to me anyway? I don't need it.My life is happy.
Yesterday, I was in my house and I just happened to walk by amirror. The strangest thing happened. That boy from the window,he was a man now, and he was in that mirror staring back at me.His eyes don't have that hard look to them anymore and he actuallylooked happy now.
When I think back to the little boy in the window, staring into hiseyes, into my eyes, I can't believe I was ever that sad. And I can'tbelieve that his eyes, my eyes, scared me so bad that I couldn'tbear to look.
It shows me that anyone's life can change for thebetter. If that little sad boy, who turned into a hard angry teenageboy, can change into the happy man I saw yesterday... then anyonecan change for the better, given the right circumstances.
Copyright © 1998 --- J. James