Sunday, May 18, 2008

Pakcik...

When I was working, everyday I used to have to cross this pedestrian bridge after getting out from the LRT station to get to my workplace. Sometimes, there would an old Malay man sitting in the middle of that bridge begging for money.

So I gave him some money everytime I saw him. He wasn't always there, so it wasn't exactly going to bankrupt me. After all, I hardly went out much back then so I didn't have much use for the money in a sense.

The first few times it was out of sympathy. I wondered if he had any children who had abandoned him. I was sure there was an interesting (although probably sad) life story he could tell me that had led him to where he was now. Now that I think of it, maybe I should have asked?

After a while though, I realized I started to do it for another reason as well. You see, my life at that point wasn't exactly going the way I was hoping it would. Once in a while, there would be days that I felt like it was going to be a bad day even before the day really began.

So on somedays when I was feeling that way, I was hoping the old man would be there so I could give him some money. It was almost like a way of paying for good karma so that my day would go well.

I guess looking back it was a pretty weird thing to do.

I don't know why I suddenly thought of the old man today after so long.

I really wonder how he's doing now.

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