Gimme, Gimme, Gimme

by

h. lena jones

Give them a stick and an empty coke can

And they will build themselves a toy

Which they will roll merrily along

A dirt road in their village

Laughing with childish glee

Enjoying untold hours of

Fun and excitement

Grateful to have

A toy to play with

These are the children

Of third world countries

These pull at your heartstrings!

On the other side of the world

It’s the gimme now children

Influenced by advertisements

Where manufacturers are out to gouge

All they can from parents who might

Otherwise spend their hard-earned cash

On more important things than

Mass-produced expensive plastic toys

Where excitement and happiness are short-lived

And the hardly used toys left abandoned

And eager eyes keep watching advertisements

Until another gimmick hits the market

And renewed cries of gimme, gimme, gimme

Are once again echoed until appeased

These pull at your purse-strings!

Thing is, the children in both worlds

Grow up to be adults!

Which ones are more appreciative?

“Train up a child in the way he should go;

and when he is old, he will not depart from it.”

(Proverbs 22:6)