Saturday, October 16, 2004
Unforgettable incident
It was a simple event yet brings about nostalgic memories. I will always remember it. What impressed me were the human feelings involved in it.
I was in Changi General hospital where i had gone to visit a sick classmate. The man I had come to visit was not sick at all and seemed to have made a remarkably recovery, from having his appendix removed. Upon seeing that there were a lot of people surrounding his bed and there were no shortage of people to cheer him up, I decided to look about the ward; just as a sort of survey.
I chanced upon an old woman with no one visiting her so i gave her a smile. She looked frail. She smiled back and gestured me to come and sit beside her, which I obliged. Within minutes, we became like old friends and i found myself telling her about my life; wad problems i faced in this competitve world. Later, I listened intently to her sad life story. She confided to me that she was alone in this world, her sons and daughters have all passed away due to serious illness. Tears glistered in her eye as she spoke. Just that instant, i felt her sorrows. The 'depression' look was etched on her face. The only 'relatives' she had was a family that lived in e same floor as her. They had adopted her as their grandma and took great care of her daily. They took turns to visit her in hospital everyday, in fact, she would be expecting one in just any minute.
I was quite taken aback that in Singapore, where elders were often thrown into old folks' home by their own children, there was such a family. Not long, a young man arrived and embraced the old woman. She introduced us. His attire was ordinary but clean; showing that he was brought up well. He was a refined man. Although he was a dropout from school, his politeness did not reflect that way. He also revealed that he was working as a hawker's assisant to support his family. He spent the next few minutes talking about the old woman and called her 'grandma' all the time. It was shocking to believe that she was not related to him in any way. As we were talking, the old woman requested a coffee. Immediately, he got up and went to get one for her.
I looked across at my classmate and realised that the crowd had dispersed so i bid the old woman and decided to see my classmate. As i stood chatting with my friend, i saw the young man standing nearby, looking at me. I thought he stood there to say goodbye to me so I went up to talk to him.
"I'm sorry to bother you," he said in a polite manner. "You see when grandma requested for a coffee, i couldn't say 'no'. All i had on me was my bus fare and i used that on the coffee. I did not have the heart to tell her i'm broke. If you lend me money, i'll mail it to you as soon as possible," he finished and shifted uneasily. I could not say no; i gave him a dollar and, because he insisted my address too. He thanked me showing a sheer smile and left.
The very next day, he kept his word; i received a dollar and a 'Thank-you' card. It was hand-made. I am not sure whether in this world, there are people like the young man and his family existed: Even though they are poor can can barely make ends meet, they had a heart of gold. Taking care of a complete stranger; as if she was their own grandmother.
I do believe somewhere in this part of the world, this kind of people do exists.
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