Everyone is walking past everyone, some peacefully while some, not without exchanging words, or in the worse case, blows. It is said that everyone, as long as one is a human being, has at least one problem one is dealing with. It makes me wonder; what if we all can read minds? Will it reduce violence since we can see the burden in the heart of one another? Well I don’t know.
I had my own problem that day, at the ministry of education, I had come the previous day, and was asked to come back the next day, and that day, I had walked on foot, what could qualify as the journey from Egypt to the promised land, starting from the morning. Okay it’s an exaggeration, but my feet felt like that.. . {pouts}. ‘But I am determined to get through the process today, and not let anybody look down or step down on me’ I thought, as I swam my way though the lake of tall people.
One more step to go, the final step. I walked into an office to get my documents stamped. A man was standing there, he had also come for stamping and so I waited for my turn. “Give me your own” said the man who was to stamp it. He had stretched his hand through the man’s side, to get my document. It was my turn but the man was standing there, at the spot that was now mine, my legal right, indisputable. I wouldn’t have that.
“Excuse me,” I said firmly. He kept doing what he was doing, and that, I don’t know because I was behind. I put on my armour, and tuned my vocal chords to withstand the highest pitch. I was about to scream the second ‘excuse me!!’ when the official signaled me to come and stand at the other side of the table, which I agreed. It was the better option, for whoever was in her right mind. Not me at the moment, but I tapped from his right mind, and went.
The man in front of me kept looking at me as I walked to the other side and stood. His gaze fixed on me. ‘What’s in his mind?’ I wondered. I stood my ground, defensive. ‘So my sister, you said I should excuse you?’ His voice rang out. ‘Sorry’ I said with my lips almost glued together, but with the greatest respect I could proffer. He said it was okay.
And then, that moment came, he took out what looked like multiple short rods and with one flip of his arm, transformed them into a staff. Blood drained from my face.
He was a blind man!!
One can say it is not so much of a big deal, but at that moment, I, who has eyes, began to see the other options I could have taken. There was absolutely nothing wrong with patiently waiting for him to finish what he was doing knowing that even if it took 20 minutes, it was a given that my documents will be stamped. Since the man had already taken the document from me, there was nothing so wrong in standing there until he handed them back to me. There were other possibilities. I knew my tone had hurt him.
I could have done better, but even with my eyes fully opened, I was blind to the other options. But the good thing is that we had made peace, and had I not been going up at the moment, we would have gone down together.
We have our different problems, but sometimes, we meet those who we are better than. That’s the world we live in. It wouldn’t hurt to be good, whenever, however, wherever, and to whomever we can.
Be good, be patient.
