“This is how I spend my day,” said the girl miserably to me as she clasped a brick and placed it into a corroded wagon. I looked around and saw juveniles with tender hands forced into labour.

How could someone completely wipe out their dreams, their future and their education? I noticed a few adolescents fighting over a rotten apple in a junkyard.

‘What has the world come to?’ I thought, while taking photographs of the underdeveloped city.

I looked the other way and saw an elegantly dressed woman sitting in a luxurious vehicle, until she tosses a wrapper that landed on the ground. Our ground! That is when I realised that “the rich are getting richer whilst the poor are getting poorer.”

In a different direction, I caught a glimpse of a teenager dressed in a dazzling white robe with golden embroidery and just a few seconds later I came across a young boy with a ripped shirt and dusty pants. Tears begin to roll down my eyes like rivulets as I imagined the inferiority complex he must have been going through.

A moment later, I found myself leaning against a tree, in deep conversation with myself. ‘Why? Why can’t we human beings share what we have with others? Why can’t we become empathetic? Why do we want to feel superior in front of everyone? Why is this globe against equality, against the rights of others?’

In this era, individuals spend their lives trying to seek attention of others so that they can be praised. But, is this the goal to a content life? From a different perspective, a successful life is one in which you give and share your belongings with others who need a helping hand.

A great example of a philanthropist and a humanitarian is Abdul Sattar Edhi. He spent all his life for the welfare and future of the homeless, orphans, special children and the ones who did not have enough money to live.

To every problem, there is a solution’, I thought, sitting by the flowers. I made a point to myself that I would keep my hands open for anyone who came up to me help. That would bring a smile not only to their face but mine too. No religion in this world tells you to hate and beat the poor, instead we should to show them love and care. We have no right to make fun of the poor because they do not have branded clothes and perfumes like us. They are humans and they have a hearts too.

Published in Dawn, Young World, October 22nd, 2016