The baby smiles as the morning light hits her face, warming her skin, which smells sweet from her bath. She is picked up and cuddled; her coos bring smiles to her mother’s face.
The baby cries alone in her crib, her miserable wails ignored as her teenage mother, who dropped out of high school, watches reality TV. The smell of urine mingles with salty tears and stains the frayed, hand-me-down sleeper.
The little girl’s every move is chronicled with videos and photos, shared with adoring grandparents and mildly interested co-workers. Her pre-school teaches her the colors and ABCs and she is reading by kindergarten.
The baby grows into a little girl with chronic untreated ear infections which cause partial hearing loss, making it difficult to follow a conversation much less instructions. She begins to be labeled “slow” and teased by playmates.
The girl is often tired from busy days of dance and swim lessons, and she plays soccer with other little girls in bright colored uniforms and tiny soccer cleats. Her room is filled with books, sunlight, and stuffed ponies.
The girl plays in the dirt playground around the corner, unless gunfire causes her to stay inside. The bedroom she shares with her mother is dark, windows covered night and day and without an alarm clock, the girl often oversleeps and misses school.
The teenager cries with drama over college applications and essays, convinced no other classmate has such demanding parents! Her private school’s guidance counselor reviews every detail patiently, and asks her which university is her first choice.
The teenager sits sullenly in the judge’s chambers, refusing to make eye contact. The judge asks her if she knows the next step is juvenile hall. She shrugs in defeat. At least there will be hot meals and a shower that rains down hot, not cold, water.
One nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
