The tale of a broken, struggling young man in Dubai draws me to sympathetic mode. Its amazing how destinies and fates are all intertwined and when you least expect it, the hand of destiny could draw you to a path unforeseen. When we thought we had seen it all and the rest is well thought of, our defenses are up and ready for what we believe is the limit to which the hand of destiny can lead us to.
The ambitious young man in question was cruising gaily with an aim not to miss the green light at the intersection and all that was on his mind was to reach home to his young wife. The poor, worn-out, malnourished laborer who was standing by the road with the aim of suicide on a pedestrian crossing decides to eventually take a leap and accomplish his extremely desperate plan which would hopefully earn his family the so called “blood money”. Unaware of the laws of the land, the driver who was cruising homeward would not commit any crime by accidentally bringing him to the other side of life as he so planned. The scene horrific and the driver may never be able to recover from but sadly this is how their destinies were intertwined.
Being a man of honor he decides to pay the “blood money” to the poor laborer’s family by obtaining a loan for which he foresaw payable over time. He wanted to make it right, even though the grisly incident was irreversible and will always be. The world economic crisis then strikes and his losses his job and is forced to stay on a low-paying job just to be able to foot his bills and clear his debt. To those who may read what I write, you may never be able to empathize with the fate of this man. Some of you may so, well, “shit happens” and I understand your point. We all have crosses to bear but how often do we believe that our neighbor’s cross doesn’t concern us? We take fore granted the fact that his cross may fall on our pathway and make us trip over.
Well, we may never be able to make it all better and the pain may not be lessened when we offer an ear to listen, but we should not live in ignorance with the belief that you only have your cross to carry. Even if you may not make it any easier but the fact that we could listen, work to make our neighbor have a smile on their faces, offer advise when they ask for it or even the simplest of gestures be fair to one another could make our crosses lighter. The burdens may then be easier to bear. For a moment, you were the employer of this poor laborer who is back-breaking in the construction of your sky scrapper, what would you have done better? Could you have given him better living condition to make him not feel less of a human being? Would you have tried to help him understand that he too has a right to life just like any of us? I am not trying to sound a saint and in many occasions I have take fore granted the opportunity to make the world a better place.
We may not change the world in one day but you can be the subject to inspire change. It starts with the small baby steps, from the rich to the poor, young to the old, employed and the employer. We all are in this together. Every single life under the sun has a right to be here, while our time on earth is on; we should try to make it a better place. When the laborer cried, who dried his tears, when he went to his demanding job on empty stomach who gave him a piece of bread? He walked by you the other day on the pavement, why did you shy away? He needed you and me but what he saw was how he was all alone.
Act today and tomorrow your cross will be easier to bear. It may be your gardener’s neighbor who thirsts in the scorching sun, the delivery boy who almost collapses under the heavy weights he bears to your door step; taxi man; door bell man; it may be the person you stare right in the face every morning. Believe me when I say it’s “a destiny intertwined”.
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