Dear Editor,
Why should I care about what happened to Andy, the 14-year-old boy who died sleeping under a truck? Andy is dead but who cares? I don’t, do you? He was not my child.
He was born poor and died poor. He never went to school; he lived on the streets. He used alcohol and drugs to numb his pain. He had no friends, and no one to love him. He came into the world unknown, without a surname, alone, and he died unknown, without a surname, and alone.
Andy is dead but who cares, I don’t, do you? He wasn’t my child.
He didn’t belong to my community. He brought shame to his community, and they were ashamed of him. He was a nobody, and nobody knew him. It was not the community’s fault that he died; since he wasn’t the child of the community. The community only cares about their child. In the community, it’s survival of the fittest and only the strong survive. Andy wasn’t strong, so he didn’t survive. It’s all his fault for not surviving. The community shouldn’t be blamed for his demise, it should blame him. Andy is dead but who cares, I don’t do you? He wasn’t my child.
Andy was an infant when his mother died. After her death, he began to die too, slowly, of abandonment, loneliness and human indifference. His mind died of a lack of education; his heart died of brokenness and his soul died of a lack of compassion. His spirit died of a lack of empathy. Andy is dead but who cares, I don’t do you? He wasn’t my child.
Moreover, Andy died never knowing the love of a mother or father, and he never knew them. He never knew how it feels to go to school. He never knew how it feels to love someone and someone to love him back. He never had a pastor, teacher, or mentor. To his neighbours and countrymen, he was invisible, an alien, from another planet. Andy is dead but who cares, I don’t do you? He wasn’t my child.
He was unsuccessful in everything he tried. He only succeeded in learning to write his name. He tried hard not to get left behind; unfortunately, he didn’t try hard enough. It’s his fault for not trying harder. I’m not going to take the blame for him not trying harder, are you? Andy is dead but who cares, I don’t do you? He wasn’t my child.
I’m not a child protector. In this country, you have to protect yourself. This a dog-eat-dog society we’re living in. I know it’s sad but that’s the way it is. This society is only about helping yourself. Thus, this is why no one tried to help him.
No one will take the blame for his death, not the driver and not the society. Thus the truck that ran over him, didn’t kill Andy. The truth is every one of us killed him. We all failed him, from the top to the bottom, from the politicians to the paupers. Someone said, “Indifference is the greatest threat to humanity.” Society’s indifference to Andy, killed him.
Andy is dead but who cares – I do. Editor, I dropped out of secondary school from Albouystown, and I didn’t have a father. I was told that I’ll never amount to anything, become a criminal and end up in prison; thank God none of these things happened. This is why today, I try to help children like Andy so that what happened to Andy and me, wouldn’t happen to them. I’m sorry that I wasn’t able to help him.
Yours faithfully,
Anthony Pantlitz
