WHEREFORE AND WHY?
Why do we meet the people who come into our life? For that matter, even stray animals that wander into our life. Do we need each other to survive during a certain period of difficulty, adjustment or uncertainty? Do we need one another to add purpose to our life?
In all my years of living in Malaysia, so many people -- expatriates mostly, old and young -- have come into our life for any number of reasons. Everyone had a story, a different need. We, ourselves, had been in similar situations too, and never hesitated to reach out to others for assistance. They either knew influential people or people who were more knowledgeable in solving issues that confronted us.
More recently I felt sad to learn a middle-aged Bangladesh man -- who through the rigors of life appeared much older than his years -- came by our house, as he had for over a decade, to tell me was going home to his village.
When we first met him he used to cycle around our neighborhood on a bicycle and side cart collecting scrap metal and cardboard to sell to a recycling centre; it was his daily means to find sustenance and live.
On occasion we gave him these items to recycle. In later years, at least once a month, he would drop by, offer to work, i.e. paint our fence or house or any odd job. In lieu of this, we would give him food and/or pocket money to buy a simple meal.
Yesterday, Friday afternoon to be precise, he dropped by and announced himself outside our gate with the customary "Assalamu alaikum", not once but several times to get our attention. As always, I opened the door and asked him to wait while we gathered bits of food, drink and spare change to give him.
Collected, I stepped out to the gate and handed it to him. He raised his hands and began to make doa (supplication to ALLAH), as he had always done, and I raised mine and concluded with "Ameen". Only this time after he had finished, he told me in Malay "Besok, saya balik kampung" (Tomorrow, I'm going back to my home village).
With this announcement, he offered his hand to give salam, not once but twice. And each time I took his hand and wished him well, and returned his salams "Wa alaikum mussalam". It was in this last salam and supplication, he looked at our house as if to ask ALLAH to reward us with "barakah" (blessings). If so, "Ameen". And may ALLAH grant him barakah. Ameen.
As I came into the house, I related to Khatijah what had transpired, and at the same time I expressed feeling, oddly enough, sad, realising he might never pass this way ever again.
Like so many people we have met in our lifetime, some have stayed and remain friends till this day, whereas others have come like cats, here for a while, then gone. At the end of the day, I am often left wondering the wherefore and the why did we meet these people, including this man, at a particular time and place.
© Breyel, Timm. "Wherefore and Why?". All rights reserved. No part of this text may be copied, broadcast, reproduced in print or electronically represented without permission from the author.
