My new encounter

I was driving home from a nearby shop when I saw these smiling souls filled with freedom in the air. In my uttermost imagination, they almost seemed like gonna fly into the sky. No, they were not angels. Neither did they have wings on their back. They were merely normal peasants you could get in the most remote places in the country.

They were walking out from St.Anthony’s like any other Sunday morning. They were holding hands, smiling and giggling like small lil’ school girls. In fact, they were the coloured people here, so to say. Their dark brownish skin glowed under the bright sunny sky. I was amazed and captured at this picturesque ‘kodak’ moment. I could smell freedom, harmony and peace in the air.

Let me just call them the ‘hidden people’, the illegal immigrants. Miss Anne is another usual hidden people here. She dresses up so elegantly everytime she comes to my office. I am really mesmerized by the way she smiles. Her spirit just puts me into a charm. I feel sympathy but I know I never will. Being a normal peasant who works in the plantations, she is the prettiest peasant I could ever seen. Her long braided hair and her well-contoured body. Her confidence and her pose hide her insecurity and lower class status. That one thing I learn so much from her. Material is just a piece of fabric, the heart that matters. She listens to me attentively and she always wishes thank you before she leaves the office door.

In comparison, these chauvinist local citizens who don’t even know how to spell ‘GRATITUDE', step into the office, act like the boss, reap off every service they could have, walk out of the door without even glancing at you and think they have every right to do so coz this is ‘MYland’! Two extremities, one is not educated at all, another is of educated.

Moving back to these hidden people. Like Anne, there are so many beautiful spirits living around us. It’s just that lil’ Kodak moment that we missed to capture, or is it that life’s too busy to even noticing their existence. Their humbleness, their joy, their simplicity, and their generous smile can even transmit right up to your spine, yes, that’s so infectious.

Today, Ms.Jay, a 20-year-old mother came by. My heart just wrenched when I knew she gonna be back to tell me that she had to stop coming by due to financial constraints. I looked into her eyes. There were so many uncertainties. She is so young and naïve. But her hidden status is the biggest brickwall separating them from the rights of the chauvinist id**ts. I am like other human. I am made of flesh and blood too. Besides our skin colour difference, we are still very the same inside. I have experienced and I have seen such difficulties myself. Nevertheless, I pray inside my heart solemnly for these innocent souls.

Later this morning, Ms.Anne stopped over. As usual, we had this lil’ chat. Her wide broad smile reminded me of this Kodak moment at St.Anthony once again. These ladies, men and children, walking side by side, smiling at the most decent way, so harmlessly that you feel you are obliged to reply them with a smile. They really made my day, a delighful sunny Sunday.