Nobody's Child

This is my cousin, Gordon McHowat.  He passed away this week at the age of 55.  He had Downs syndrome and was placed in a home when he was 8.  I always thought of him as pure innocence.  He was always laughing.  I never saw him much because his family lived in Bahrain and the home where he lived was in Scotland close to my Granny.  When I was younger, we would always go and visit him.  My last memory of him was when we took him out for a drive in my old Spitfire with the top down, he loved the feeling of the wind.
I have often thought of how different his life would have been if he had been born today.  We have come a long way in our attitudes and care of people with disabilities, but we still have a long way to go.

Granny had an old record of Nobody's Child.  I can still remember Granny singing along to it and Gordon loving it.  At the time, I felt like Gordon was nobody's child.  The song is about a boy in an orphanage who doesn't get adopted because he is blind.  It reminds me of all the children in orphanages all over the world who live without hope.  All of them could be helped if we just cared a little more about others and less about ourselves.  Will that ever happen though?

As I was slowly passing, an orphans home today
I stopped for just a little while to watch the children play
A lone boy standin', and when I asked him why
He turned with eyes that could not see, and he began to cry

I'm nobody's child, I'm nobody's child
Just like a flower I'm growin' wild
No mama's arms to hold me no daddy's smile
Nobody wants me, I'm nobody's child

In every town and village
There are places just like this
With rows and rows of children
And babies in their cribs

They've long since stopped their cryin'
As no-one ever hears
And no-one there to notice them or take away their fears

Nobody's child, they're nobody's child
Just like a flower they're growin wild
No mama's arms to hold them, no daddy's smile
Nobody wants them they're nobody's child

Nobody's child, they're nobody's child
Just like a flower they're growin wild
No mama's arms to hold them, no daddy's smile
Nobody wants them they're nobody's child
Nobody wants them they're nobody's child