02/25/2026
Everyone cried for Punch.
A baby monkey rejected by his mother.
Left alone.
Unwanted.
And people felt it.
They shared it.
They cried over him.
Because something in us knows…
that’s not how it’s supposed to be.
A baby is supposed to be held.
Protected.
Chosen.
But here’s the part no one wants to sit in.
There are children living that reality every single day.
Not on a screen.
Not in a zoo.
Not in a viral moment.
In real life.
Some of these kids are truly abandoned into the system.
No calls.
No visits.
No one asking how they are.
No one coming back.
And some of these kids are orphans…
because their parents are gone.
Both exist.
Both are real.
Both are heartbreaking.
These are children growing up without the one person who was supposed to love them.
Some are grieving parents who are still alive…
but don’t show up.
Some are grieving parents they will never see again.
And somehow… we don’t cry for them the same way.
We debate them.
We question their stories.
We question removals.
We argue about the system.
But we don’t sit in their pain long enough
to let it break our hearts.
I have held these kids.
I have heard them cry for a mom they love…
even when she never comes.
I have seen the moment they stop asking…
because they already know.
Their pain is real.
Their loss is real.
Their stories are real.
They just aren’t viral.
And maybe that’s the problem.
Because if the world felt their stories
the way it felt Punch’s…
we wouldn’t be able to look away.
