If there's one thing that is certain in life, it is the fact that we learn all the time, and luckily for me, I've been able to train myself or build myself up in a way where I get to take a lesson even from the tiniest of events. And what's even crazy is that some of this events happened years ago when I still saw the world as white and black, unlike now that I've gotten to know that the world isn't that plain and simple.
And sometimes, the things that I get to learn from are things that many might would consider dumb or irrelevant for one to even want to talk about it out here in public, but you see, it's not the event or stories that count, it's the lesson learnt from it.
Something happened yesterday that reminded me of something else that happened about four years ago. A little boy who gets paid for helping people to throw away their dirts at the hostel had knocked on my door, mouth filled with the snacks he was eating and had asked if I had any water to give to him. My first response had been no, not because I didn't have any drinking water to give to him, but because the only water I had was the plastic bottle kind and those were the expensive once compared to the cheaper kind of water been sold around here in nylon sachets.
But just as I said no to him, my brain immediately did a flashback, reminding me of the one time someone had done the same thing to me four years ago and how sad it had made me feel. I had asked my neighbour if he had any water and he had replied that the only water he had was the plastic bottle one and that there was no way he could give it to me because it was too expensive.
I remember hearing that from him and feeling this kind of inner anger, one that I couldn't express out because I knew I didn't have the rights to. So just as I said no to the boy, I had immediately called him back and handed him one plastic bottle of water. Even I could tell he was surprised because he had expected the sachet one.
Looking back at all of it now feels kinda like an eye opener for me because it just made me realize that if that guy didn't make me feel the way I felt those years ago, I probably would have denied this young boy the water he was so desperately in need of, just because I felt it was too "expensive".