Two strangers at my door.

It was a typical Sunday morning, and I was listening to some Sufi songs. I heard the door bell ring and I opened the door. There were two strangers; both were men in their late 60s.

One of them was leading the other, as the other was blind. They were from a blind association looking for any kind of donation. They mentioned old clothes, old newspapers (but not money). I looked at the men; they appeared to be having good stature when young, but now in their late 60s they were quite frail. And my first thought was, “Can they lift a load of 5-10 kgs of old newspaper?”

There was an air of self-respect around them which was tattered now, facing the wind of poverty, helplessness and pain in life. Their eyes reflected honesty and genuineness. Even being blind could not hide that. They were very well mannered and the first reaction was to give respect.

In my apartment complex we get lots of other people asking for donation. And they are mostly people with good sales skills. They try to deceive but a moment is enough to decide otherwise.

Such incidents, and many others, we face in life make us hard, emotionally hard like rock. I was going through such a mental turmoil last day. And the appearance of these two strangers changed things in a moment. Their honesty, genuineness, tattered self-respect, helplessness and suffering in life, had so much magnetism and warmth, that my rock like hardened compassion melt like wax in seconds.

I got some money which we had kept aside for donation when my son was born premature. These few hundreds had more value than thousands as they were part of the most important prayer in life. This money was kept untouched since more than a year now. And today I got the best use for it.

I am not sure who was more needy today. The strangers who were seeking donation or me who wanted to donate this money for the best cause…

Mahtab Syed
Sunday, January 17, 2010