A zombie and a warmer globe

The zombie appeared terrified after glancing through a plethora of articles in newspapers on global warming. The divided scientific opinion on global warming between human induced warming by the burning of fossil fuels as opposed to the idea of a change in the solar output troubled him. Pearls of perspiration came down his face. The thought of having to witness tinder like summers drove him crazy. The fiery thunderbolts that struck during the past monsoon came to his mind along with the flash floods. "Why the heck should this warming occur during my lifetime?!" he moaned.

A pale weak voice took him by surprise. He shivered a bit by the sudden utterance of a soft greeting. However, he composed himself quickly and turned back. There stood a little girl of five. She looked very sick and thin with a very common attire smeared with dirt. The appearance of her clothes suggested that it could have been a week since it was properly washed. She was poor to even afford a detergent to wash her clothes. Her hair was disclad but her eyes shone brilliantly. She put her hands in to those of the zombie and said "I was looking for you all over the place. I'm alone at home and there's nothing to play with. Can we play for sometime?". The zombie was always pleased to see the little creature. Her father was a poor labourer who struggled to earn two square meals a day. Her mother cleaned up the neighbouring houses and struggled to earn some money to afford them a shelter. The zombie was in such a state of mind, that he could not afford to pay full attention to the child in front of him. He looked at her with little interest and uttered "Why don't you play with something else?".

The girl stared back at him through her sad eyes. She spoke slowly. "There's nothing at home to play with. I had a kitten a long time back but mother gave her away to my uncle in the village. She could not afford to feed both of us with milk." The zombie suddenly realized that he had carelessly made the child sad. He felt sorry for the child. The girl turned to the window and staring out asked him, "Can I sing for you?". "Sure" said the zombie. He was always amused to see the girl happy. The girl smiled happily and started to jump up and down while singing out some of the rhymes taught to her in the local school. The school which she attended was free and lacked proper infrastructure. The building was in a dilapidated state. Classes from kindergarden to high school were conducted in the same room amidst chaos and confusion along with the loud banter of the children. Even the teachers were not well qualified and paid meagre salaries.

The girl danced and sang for sometime and got bored with it. She pulled up a chair close to the zombie and glanced at him closely at the head. "What are you looking at?" asked the zombie. "Do you have an injury to your head?" she queried back in her soft voice. "No" replied the zombie a bit taken back. "Why do you ask that?" said the zombie looking keenly at the girl. The thoughts of global warming and crazy weather had completely drained out of his head. The little girl held all of his attention now. "My father got hurt on his head and a lot of blood came out. He feels a lot of pain always. Do you feel it in your head too?" asked the girl innocently. The zombie shrugged to remember that the girl's father fell from a speeding crowded train, a few years back and badly injured his head. Though he was dragged inside the train and left laying on the floor with blood oozing from his head, no one cared nor could spare time to rush a poor labourer to the hospital. Human life, especially that of a poor man was so cheap. It was the cleaners who came in the evening that carried him to a doctor. The doctor managed to save his life but the incident left him struggling with epilepsy and violent seizures for life. Being a poor labourer he could not afford money for his health condition and that incident sent his life into a harder downward spiral. The girl's mother bent her back hard to support her husband and to feed her daughter. Life has been a struggle for the girl's family. Ever since, they have not been able to live happily. "My mother cries for father's health and the doctor has given him a couple of tablets to be consumed daily." said the girl with a small pause. "Father shall get well with the tablets. Mother tells me that we can afford to have the kitten with us after father gets healed up".

The zombie's throat went dry. He assured her saying "Dont worry kid. Father shall be okay and mother shall be happy again." He reached around for the box of candies that he had stashed up on the rack and gave them to her. She happily grabbed them and went out looking to play with the children on the street. The zombie felt sad for her. He sat up thinking about the demons of global warming. There are far more important things to strive for before worrying about global warming. The world should strive for providing food and basic amenities to everyone living on this planet. No one should go hungry or die on the streets. The day poverty is abolished shall be the day the world must look forward to. It is a pity that countries continue to spend billions on military and defense researches but cannot afford to ensure that all of its population is being fed and clothed properly. Lets fight poverty and tackle the more important demons first before arguing about the changes in the climate pattern. The governments tend to blow up the global warming idea and cover up other issues that they really should be concentrating on. Don't be fooled by them.