A sweet treasure

I was traveling to the countryside today. As we were queuing to get on the bus, I caught sight of a young mother trying to close her baby pram and put it in the storage compartment of the bus while also holding her baby on one arm. She was struggling alone. I looked around to see if any men, or for that matter, any women cared to give her a hand. One by one we were all interested to get on the bus as soon as possible.

I stepped out of the queue and walked up to her asking if I could help her.

“If you could hold the baby,” she said and without any hesitation handed me her sweet treasure. The baby was smiling relaxed in my arms and waited patiently until her mother managed to close the pram and get all her belongings. While standing by side of the bus, I looked up at the people sitting already all relaxed on the bus. I wondered what had happened to us, why everyone was so indifferent to help this young woman. Of course, I realized, she was Roma and unfortunately, we are deeply prejudiced against those of Roma background. For me, it was such a lovely gift to meet them.