By: Lubnah
Abdulhalim
THE FALLING OFF THE HUMAN MASK
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| Photo Courtesy: marriland.com |
Maybe it is
true what Andy Rooney said by ‘the average dog is a nicer person than the
average person’ for the stories that live to be told, prove exactly that.
An old man
narrates his touching story, some time back when he was working as a night
watchman at a European based School. It was during one of those long nights in
duty when a young lady appeared at the school gate, looking tired and in despair.
She humbly asked for help from the old man for a place to sleep over night for
she had no other place to go and she knew no one around. The young woman told
her sad story of how she lost a large amount of money and some of her important
documents. She was clearly a very learned lady, just caught up with
misfortunes.
The old man,
feeling pitiful, let her into the school compound and let her sleep under a mango
tree. He asked for her phone for the night for security purposes and she agreed
on that. The lady slept and very early the next morning, the old man woke her
up so that she may leave as fast as possible, before teachers and directors of
the school arrived and found her there. It was obviously a great risk he was
taking and if caught, it would have cost his job. He quickly gave her the phone
back and let her leave peacefully.
Some months
later, the young lady was back at the school gate, pleading for help from the
old man once again. The old man, knowing that she knew no one in Mombasa; he
gave her another chance to spend the night under the same mango tree.
Interestingly,
this wasn’t the end of the young lady’s trips to the old man. Months later, she
came again to the school gate in search for the good old man but unfortunately,
the fellow watchman informed her that the old man was at leave. She asked for
his home address and took her route to his place. The old man was surprised at
this third visit but none the less, he welcomed her in his humble home and let
her stay with his family and helped with the little he had. He went ahead and helped
her in search for a job and to get her money back. It was impossible to get her
money back but she was got a job that suited her high education level.
The young lady
soon started working and after one year of living at the old man’s house, she
left. At her first months at the port, she visited the old man once in a while
and showed appreciation. She even promised to help the old man when she
prospered in her job. Soon later, the young lady was highly promoted and she
became very successful and rich. She now forgot all about the kind old man, he
refused to acknowledge him or even talk to him. The old man was deeply hurt by
how the lady turned out to be but none the less, he avoided her completely.
Surely, what
goes around comes around; the young lady was soon robbed off everything she
had. After so long now is when she re approached the old man; not to thank him or
regret her actions but to accuse him for the robbery. The old man was
speechless and so shocked by her accusations and to date, the old man lives to
tell his experience on the price of being humane. The young lady is still
holding a big post and rich with all she needs while the old man still lives in
his poor condition and just watches her from afar not wanting to even get near
her ever again.
Expectations do
hurt because when the human’s mask falls off and the real face is exposed, we
definitely won’t like what we’d see. True to Sean O’Casey words ‘The entire
world’s a stage and most of us are desperately unrehearsed.’
