The Day a Boy Asked Me Why the Road Was Better Than School

 

I was walking through a dusty part of town, somewhere between a forgotten market and an abandoned school building, when I saw him. A boy — maybe 11 or 12 — barefoot, carrying a bag of pure water on his head, weaving through traffic with the agility of someone used to surviving.

We locked eyes briefly. I nodded. He didn’t smile. He was working.

Then, he surprised me.

“Uncle,” he said, slowing down just enough to walk beside me, “Why do people go to school if they end up on this same road like me?”

I paused.

I wanted to tell him that education opens doors, that learning changes lives, that school is the only real escape — but my tongue froze.

Because the school just across the road from us had broken windows, no roof, and goats grazing where children should have been learning. Because I knew some graduates were still hawking water too. Because that day, I didn’t know if the road or the classroom had more dignity left.

A Broken Mirror of Promise

We tell children, “Go to school, work hard, and your life will change.”

But what happens when that promise breaks?

When a girl scores high in her exams but can’t go to university because her father lost his job?

When a boy learns to code but can’t afford data to access the internet?

When teachers go unpaid and students are told to “manage it”?

The truth is harsh: In many places, school has stopped being a guarantee.

The Weight Society Puts on the Young

There’s a silent burden on our youth — to make sense of a broken system, to stay motivated when everything around them screams hopelessness.

We expect them to “behave,” to “dream big,” to “stay off the streets” — while we build mansions for the few and leave leaking classrooms for the many.

We forget that if we plant frustration, we harvest unrest.

But There’s Still Hope — If We Choose It

Hope isn’t just a feeling — it’s a decision.

We can choose to care. We can choose to ask questions.

Why is that boy on the street instead of in class?

Why are teachers striking again?

Why is brilliance wasted in silence?

EGGCROWN Media exists to ask these questions — not to blame, but to awaken.

The Ending We Choose

That boy who walked beside me? I don’t know where he is now. Maybe he’s still selling water. Maybe he’s in a workshop. Or maybe someone listened to him.

Maybe someone like you.

Because it

 only takes one moment — one decision — to rewrite a future.