When my niece was six, she asked me why rich people didn’t
just invite homeless people to live with them. It was winter in Boston, and she simply
couldn’t understand why people with homes—including her own family—didn’t allow
homeless people (“only the nice ones”) to sleep on their couches or in the
guest bedrooms. While commending her altruistic impulse, I gingerly explained
the safety concerns of inviting strangers into your home.
Kids’ inability to grasp the entrenchment of global pandemics—poverty, homelessness,
racism—is bittersweet. At first, you’re touched by their easy, natural
compassion and their hope that they’ll be able to solve these problems when they get older;
but then, you’re saddened when you have to explain that the world is
much harder to fix than they believe.
This could have been the thinking of the mother of a
7-year-old boy featured on today’s Kids Say the Cutest Things. While walking to
the bathroom with his mom in the middle of the night, he said, "It is sad
that some people don't have homes. When I grow up and am the richest man or
woman in the world, I'm going to buy all the homeless people houses."
He may not be able to carry out this exact goal, but
with such a good heart, this little boy is bound to contribute to society in
some meaningful ways.
Photo: friendswithoutborders.org
