My most recent random act of beauty happened not too long ago in Indonesia. I was walking down the s

My most recent random act of beauty happened not too long ago in Indonesia. I was walking down the street when I saw a mother and her young child, about 4 years old or so, sitting on the sidewalk. They were disheveled and barefoot and unlike the other women who dotted the sidewalk, I noticed that this woman was not asking for money. She was just sitting there, looking weak and dazed. As I studied her and her child, something else caught my eye: there were several drawings around them on the sidewalk, indecipherable, fascinating little designs made in some crude, black medium. I asked the woman who had drawn them, and she pointed to her tiny child. My immediate thought was to head to an art store I knew of not too far away and there, for less than a dollar, I purchased a box of 20 pieces of colourful chalk. I returned to the mother and child, drew a pink chalk heart on the sidewalk in front of the little boy, placed the box of chalk at his feet and continued on my way. ⁣
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Later that day I passed by the area again and they were gone. There were no chalk drawings on the sidewalk and I wondered if I had stupidly given them chalk when I could have offered them something that would have benefitted them far more.⁣
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But when I happened by the same spot again the next day, the area where they sat was filled with the most detailed and symmetrical designs. I was in awe that this young child could express himself in such an intricate way. Amongst the linear designs I also saw drawings of round, soft flowers and when I asked her who had drawn those, she again pointed to her young son. I gushed excitedly as I applauded his talent and he shyly buried his face in his mother’s arm. I bought some food for them and left. I searched for them every day after that for the remainder of my stay but I didn’t see the boy, his mother, or any more of his drawings again. ⁣
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I wonder how many great talents, geniuses and potential innovators there are in this world, whose potential never has the chance to bloom due to where they were born and the poverty they were born in to. Are you making the most of your blessings? #500randomactsofbeauty