When A Woman Tries to Sell Her Baby

"What is wrong with people?" the reporter wrote, breaking the news of a Dallas woman trying to sell her baby for $4,000. She was only busted when the buyer got cold feet and reported to police.

Served her right, what an awful human being! My mind jumped into immediate conclusion, always ready to blame another individual. Shame on this woman, I said to myself.

Then, I read in that same report, “A neighbor said the woman was ‘very depressed, always alone sitting on the stairway’ during her pregnancy, and her apartment manager said she was behind on rent.” In a moment myriad emotions ran through my mind. Perhaps she was a victim of our cruelness, or someone took advantage of her and dumped her when she became pregnant! Perhaps she lost her job and could not found one, or she is a woman with deep religious conviction who did not want to abort. She may simply have just exhausted all avenues to find help.

I began feeling guilty. How can I disregard my own responsibility that went in its way to create this unkind society where a woman tries to sell her baby?

 “Why could she not give the child away for adoption?” My ever self-righteous mind immediately came to self defense.

Of course! It is so easy to pass comments about other. I even do not know about her circumstances but that does not stop me from passing judgment about her. So easily we assume the role of judge, jury and the executioner’s role ourselves.

In the end, I felt I am as much responsible for the plight of this woman as her next door neighbor is. Together, with our aloofness and our self-serving nature, we have built these cocoons, where we play our selfish vain idiosyncratic games, and feel content.

 Finally, we only live our lives in misery, devoid of the divine pleasure that can only be had in self-less service to others. I answer the question, “What is wrong with people” with—the wrong is with myself—I make up the people. Shame on me, for I created this society with the connivance of my fellow human beings.

Previously published on Technorati