The Stranger

Many believe that I have lost my faith in the human race. I have, on occasion, been prone to believe this as well. After having seen the deserving get whacked into pitiful submission while the unscrupulous get the world handed to them on a silver platter once too often, something inside is bound to break – even if just a little. Repeat the process often enough, your world-view simply changes into something quite hideous.

Life is not governed by the Queensbury rules – when the other guy is down, whack the stuffing out of the sorry sod! In life, there are no referees to stop us from doing this. And the non-existent referee will not stop us from driving our knees into the other guy’s tender groin either – and then setting him on fire after that.

So what? Isn’t this the way the game of life is played? Fine! But what if we are the sorry sod on the receiving end of such treatment? In this case, all we can ever hope to do is to grin, bear it and think of good old England – and hope that the Queen will send in the SAS soon. Again, I wouldn’t count on this, either: not unless I was holed-up as a hostage in the Iranian embassy. Even then I wouldn’t be too sure.

I have learnt to expect that when I am down, the world and his brother-in-law will soon come along and start trampling merrily all over me. After all, what makes me think I am special enough to deserve to be treated differently?

That’s right. Nothing!

But just as I was bracing myself to be trampled underfoot, life threw me a curve-ball. Someone whom I had never met (and who – his upon his request – shall remain nameless) called me up and asked if we could sit down for a chat over a cup of coffee. Over the phone he sounded bright, cheerful and very sincere. I thought why not? Things couldn’t get any worse for me anyway.

So, what is he like? In person, he is everything like he sounded over the phone. On top of that, he is also one of the most intelligent and knowledgeable people I could ever hope to meet in this lifetime. I sat there mesmerised as he took our discussion to places I never even thought existed – and I was soaking-up all that knowledge like a sponge (or tried to, anyway). The man is light-years ahead of me – of anybody!

At about the end, he came to the part that he wanted to see me about. Ever so cautiously (almost as if he was afraid I’d be offended), he said he had somehow gathered that life wasn’t going all that well for me. He also added (again, very cautiously) that if I wanted to make a fresh start of it, I was free to use his office (located in a prime commercial area) as my own. He’d let me have an entire room to myself and would leave me alone to get whatever I needed to get done to get my life back on track.

Huh? What’s wrong with this picture? Where’s the catch?

Well, there’s nothing wrong with this picture at all. And there’s no catch – of any kind. As it turns out, he’s just a regular guy who wants to do a good deed for someone who is down on his luck; someone he doesn’t even know. He says that many times before, when he was down, others had come to his aid and helped him along. It was now time for him to pay it forward.

The concept blew me way! There I was thinking that good guys only existed in the movies – and then along comes this guy. I think, thanks to him, my world-view is in the process of mending – and mending fast!

Though am not able to take up his gracious offer (I am now already sharing a consulting practice with some guys in Danau Kota), I am deeply touched by he stranger’s gesture – more deeply than I could care to express in words. May Allah s.w.t bless his kindness with eternal blessings!

Maybe its not time to lose faith in the human race yet, eh? Maybe – just maybe – if I should ever get over this rough patch, I too, will be able (someday) to pay it forward to some other guy who is down on his luck.