Tuesday, February 24, 2009
What's love?

He was 40 years old when he held my hand and played with me. He offered me sweets and said,

"Here... this is from my pocket. I have nothing much to give, but I think these sweets will make you happy..." .

I took the sweets from his hands, and saw the smile on his face. It was a genuine smile. I knew it because he didn't know how else he could make someone happy. He felt he was too much of a burden to his own family.

His wife walked up to him and offered him a bowl of soup. She told him to be careful because the soup was hot. I saw that smile faded away because He felt he needed someone to feed him but he didn't quite like that idea. He said, "Honey, its ok, I can still see... its just black and white images, but I can still see... don't worry about me." .

20 years passed.

I walked pasted him this morning and found he has completely lost his sight. He stood there at the train station, with his left hand stretched out, and the other, with his walking stick and 3 packets of tissue.

I placed some cash in his hands and said a little prayer, that God will protect him and if possible, regain his sight before he grows old and pass on.

I teared when I walked away from him. I remembered, as a child, I would go to his house and play with him, sit on his lap and sing songs together with him. That was all he could do, but I felt that he was happy and satisfied.

Today, when I saw him after 20 years, I found him standing even though he feels tired, probably feeling lost and hopeless because he couldn't even see, couldn't even tell what time it was. All he could do was to stand there, receive generous donations by passer bys, and wait for his wife to come fetch him after a day's work.

All he could think of, was the memories he had, probably 30 years ago, when his sight was totally fine back then. The picture of his life, his wife, the things he did, how young he looked are probably still fresh in his head.

This blind man, is the man standing at the Clementi MRT Station. I knew him when I was young. Uncle Peter is his name I think... God bless his soul.

posted @ 6:20 AM |