The world is a fundamentally unfair place. Two factors completely outside your control—where you are born and who your parents are—determine the vast majority of the rest of your life. This is the simple truth that any number of school teachers, motivational posters, and bumper stickers try to avoid because it's a depressing thing to tell a child. So we lie to them instead. We tell them tales of hard work paying off and other such nonsense. Some of the more gullible children might believe it for a time, but they will ultimately learn the truth.Jetin Shrestha, a 13-year-old from an earthquake-torn Napalese town, will learn these lessons soon enough. But for now, Cristiano Ronaldo sent him a signed shirt, which little Jetin will cling to, like his hopes and dreams, until a fresh act of God destroys it too. Then, and only then, as he clings to the tattered remnants of his most prized possession, will he be a man. And there's no way in hell Ronaldo will send him a new shirt then, because what kind of an adult asks a professional athlete for an autograph?
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