The mind of a child

Imagine a young man, when he was born his mother held him lovingly as she looked down on her new bundle of joy. In that one little being she imagined all he would bring to the world and all that he could be. When he turned six he was in an accident. Her little bundle of joy was hit by a car and the accident left him in a coma for months. When he woke up, he was not the same.

He would never be the same again.

The body of that six year old continued to mature, his voice deepened as it should, hair grew where it belonged and he sprouted up over his elders. But the mind of that grown man? It stayed six years old.

One day this young man climbs into the car of a 'friend' who takes him to the country, gets him high and then leaves him. The young man walks until he gets to a service station and he asks for a ride. The young woman he asks for a ride says 'no.'

The young man asks if he can use her phone. The young woman says 'no.' What the young man does next lands him in jail.

"Well, that's where he needs to be!" you say?

In jail, a six year old can't prevent a grown man from taking his clothing, his sheets or his food.

In jail, a six year old won't know how to stop someone smuggling in drugs from shoving it into his property, or even his hands when the threat of a cell search looms.

In jail, a six year old will not survive, and if he does, he will not return home the same.

When people ask 'how can you represent those people?' I think of that young man, the one with the body of an adult and the mind of a child. I think of what he can't do, what he won't do, what he couldn't possibly survive.

How can I not represent him?

Until next time, 

Be blessed, be careful, never consent and never confess

~LT