The Boy in the window

[Guest guest]

One day while I was shopping with my mother, we were walking past a

store with a big front window. In this window there was a little boy,

just standing there looking back at me. He had a black eye and bruised

cheek. And the look in his eyes was so sad. They were filled with so

much pain and sadness that just looking into them brought tears to my

eyes. And I turned away.

 

Some years later, while walking past the store again, I saw that same

little boy. He had grown some but it was apparant that it was the same

boy. He still had bruised cheeks and his nose was taped up from being

broken. In his eyes I could still see all his pain, his lonliness, his

sadness. Once again it brought tears to my eyes, and once again I

turned away.

 

In my teenage years, I walked past the store again. And again the boy

was there. He had grown into a tall young man. No bruises on his face

this time. But his eyes had changed. They hadn't lost their sadness or

their pain or lonliness, but they had taken 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 had before 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. Maybe

because I'm afraid to see the man that boy has become. I was going to

go once, but I decided I didn't need that in my life at this point. 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 a mirror.

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 actually looked happy now.

When I think back to the little boy in the window, staring into his

eyes, into my eyes, I can't believe I was ever that sad. And I can't

believe that his eyes, my eyes, scared me so bad that I couldn't bear

to look.

 

It shows me that anyone's life can change for the better. If that

little sad boy, who turned into a hard angry teenage boy, can change

into the happy man I saw yesterday... then anyone can change for the

better, given the right circumstances.