Admiration~

"Mak Cik, nak tolong ke?" I blurted out as I saw this old lady with a tudung got off the bus slowly.

I din even know whether she spoke a word of BM but somehow the words just came out. I saw her got on the bus with much difficulty with a shopping trolley all alone. She did the same thing when the bus reached Carousel shopping centre.

A bit shocked she looked at me and asked me where I was from.

"Malaysia - Sarawak." was my reply.

It turned out that she was from Seremban.

The car in front cleared out. I could have crossed the road if I rushed past, but in the end decided to stay on to make sure the Mak Cik was safe.

"Kamu tinggal ngan family?" I asked.

"Tidak, saya tak ada anak dan suami saya dah meningal 16 tahun"

"Mak Cik kuat"

"Tidak, saya bikin kuat. Sebenarnya, saya ada kanser, sakit"

"Tapi mak cik berani ni."

She implied that life was like that, daring to be brave was something crucial to survive, esp in another country. She was all alone, 78 yrs old, living in the government shelter, with no family at all.

"Tapi orang sini friendly kan?" I manage to say with my broken BM.

"Ada yang baik, ada yang jahat. Saya kena pukul 5 kali. Bukan pukul la, mereka ambil duit aku."

I din know wat to say, but all I could do was just help her put her bag in a trolley so she could push it easier. Decided to teman her for a while since I wasnt in a rush to get back to school. As we walked towards Woolies in da da food court, she said she wanted to rest a while and asked me to go buy my things.

I nodded and we parted ways.

Her passion of living. The humility I saw in her eyes. The strength she had to endure pain. The bravery to go around alone even though it was hard - all left me in awe.

I have no idea whether I'll meet her again, but her life sure touched mine. Sometimes, you just never know what a lil bit of kindness would bring. :)

Signin off: Hope everything goes well mak cik!