Even Little Girls...

I kept hearing myself say, "they are so cute!"
I wasn't making the connection that all the little girls with scarves tied on their heads loaded down with water, food or house hold supplies aren't really little girls in a third world country.
Pretty soon "cute" left me uncomfortable as I noticed that they look and act just like a grown up doing jobs just as a grown up would do, never saying a word about how hard it is or how unfair it is. I don't recall seeing any of them with a baby doll. A real baby, yes, but not a doll. I see dirty little feet that don't struggle to keep flip-flops made for some one much larger on their busy feet. They are often empty looking, watching every move made around them, never saying a word. Maybe be it is me that has caused the silence. Maybe it is me that has taken away any expression, reaction or emotion. I have, on occasion, seen children run as fast as they can to get away from the white people.
My guess is, it is more than that. I think that as a little girls their lives are lived as adults, even down to the way they dress.
I have learned to travel with candy on long road trips. It opens doors!
Even little girls who live life as an adult like candy, so do big girls who are now mama's.