Born Innocent

Born Innocent

By Paul McCann

Joe said his prayers and went to mass every Sunday. He soon became an altar boy in his local church and enjoyed being who he was in a tough neighbourhood .  

At seven years of age al ever saw was violence , all he ever heard was abuse and all he ever knew was bullying and trouble around the town that was overrun by gangs with guns who controlled the town . .

The shop owners had to pay weekly protection money or their shops would be burn down , eventually most of the shop owners  packed up and left leaving the gangs to open shops and ask high prices for basic food items .

Each time Joe went out on the street he was bashed up and beaten . One day he confronted one of the gang members and explained to him about the consequences of his actions and how he would go to hell for the things he done  .

Joe looked into the eyes of the bully who was full of anger and rage . Joe kept talking and suddenly his demeanour changed and in the moment something miraculous happened .  It was as if Joe had hypnotised the bully who let him go Joe and walked away . Somehow Joe’s message got through . The bully left had left him alone . .   ,

Joe skipped away free as a bird thanking God above for not getting bashed up .

His innocence was something unique and asked for nothing more that acceptance .

.On his way to his Grandmother’s house the next day Joe saw the bully again who waved at him in a friendly way . Joe was stunned and waved back  .

Everything became clear and Joe had nothing more to fear from him anymore .

He said a thank you prayer to God for changing the bully’s ways .

The anger and rage had gone and love and peace had taken over .

Innocent we all are when we’re born . It’s only the bad things that sometimes happen to us that might change how we think and act .

From that day on the bully always said hello to Joe when he saw him .

Joe realised that he had this secret weapon with the words that came into his head .

It was like a gift he had been given .

Somehow he had the ability to change how people were and he started to practise that each time an opportunity came his way . He saw almost instantly how anger and hatred seemed to disappear when he spoke to other gang members in the ghetto

As time passed by Joe discovered a way to say hello to many people .

During his life Joe had changed many peoples lives and never once received any accolade for the work he did but he knew in his heart the gift he had been given and that was all that mattered ,

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‘The End