Stages of Socialization

It was already past eight o’clock as I walked briskly along the cold, cement sidewalk to work. As I approached the corner Starbucks - whose circular, green window advertisement triggered a response – I saw that the line was overwhelmingly long and decided to forego my morning latte. Moving more quickly now, I listened to the even quicker pace of the world swirl by me. Then I saw her. In the dark corner of a doorway, beneath an abandoned building, I saw a young girl. She was squatting down in a garbage can, practically naked. It is hard to recall which was more alarming, her dirt-stained skin or her bones, which jutted out from every corner of her body. Nervous and alarmed, I stopped and asked, “Are you lost?” The child, about seven years old, looked taken aback, stared at the ground and sunk lower and further away. Again, I asked, “Are you okay? Where are your parents?” She did not make eye contact or let on that she could hear me at all, only let out a loud growl followed by a low moan. She shook her head wildly and so, already late, I turned away and hurried to work. All day, I wondered what the little girl had been doing in there. At her age, she ought to have been in school with her friends, not alone on a crowded street with nearly bare skin on a chilly day. Why had she ignored my questions, pretending not to hear me and refusing to offer any answer?