How hard was that?

I was all set to go to work. All neat and tidy, smart and simple. I was waiting outside of my house for the bus and some children were waiting for their school bus to arrive. They were also ready for the school with their uniforms neatly pressed and hair neatly combed. Few of them were busy talking while few were playing with a puppy. They were making themselves dirty by playing with that dirty puppy. Constantly lifting him and putting him in some cage. Talking and giggling about something. Then I had a closer look at what they were doing and they were actually helping the puppy to get a warm closet.

It was a cold night yesterday so the puppy was shivering and those little kids were trying to keep him at some warm place. I felt sorry for what I thought of them but at the same time I knew that they were making themselves dirty, they had school to attend and they can't be this dirty all day. 

I put a break to my thoughts when the school bus arrived. All the children went inside and those few still worried about the puppy instead of their uniforms.

After sometime, when the bus left, the puppy started wandering. May be he realised that he's alone again and there's no one to help. I started waiting for my bus again and something passed by me and I got scared for a moment, it was that puppy. He sat beside me, looked to his left and then right and then up, towards me. I could literally say that he was asking for help with those two tiny little numb eyes. He looked at me for a second or two. I couldn't help him, I had to go to the office. May be he realized that I wasn't kind enough to help him. He looked down and then left the place.

  

That's when it struck me, am I so occupied with the society's status that I forgot the very first lesson learnt in the school 'always help all the animals, they can't really speak so you have to feel their pain'. I could have picked him up and put him in some place suitable for him. But instead I was worried for my clothes. 

Was it so hard to prioritize between someone's life and my appearance? Was it so hard to decide whether my office was important or his shivering? Was it so hard to keep the practical thinking aside and live in the real world to save someone? Or was it so easy to judge those children in the name of being neat and tidy? Is this the side effect of being an adult now?