Repaying a kindness
The old man lay dying on the hospital bed. He had suffered from a massive heart attack and was now quickly losing his grip on life. Emaciated and pale, he was only a shadow of his former self. I stay by the bed and held his hand throughout the night. It was the least I could do. After all he had been there when I was in trouble.
I was only ten when I first met the old man. I was then in primary 4. My school organized a Community Involvement Programme (CIP) where I have to help out in a Elderly Home -- Thian Leng Old Folks Home. Fate had brought the old man and me together when I was appointed to take care of him by the teacher-in-charge.
I am very grateful to him, because without him, I wouldn't have been standing here today. As my parents were always busy working, slogging out their guts to earn more money to make my life more comfortable. Thus I am always alone at home. However, after that trip to Thian Leng Old Folks Home, I've found myself a partner, and that is the old man. At first, I started introducing myself, little did I know, we immediately hit it off so well. From then on, I decided to visit him once in a week, bringing him nutritious food. From then on, whenever I have troubles, I would always consult him, and amazingly, he seems to understand me and with just a few sentences, he seems to have solved my problem.
Ever since the first day I've met him, he seems to be very lonely too, that is why, every time I visit him, I would bring him out for a walk, as a way of relieving stress after being ''lock up'' in the folks home for a period of time. According to him, his children were all pushing away the responsibilities of taking care of him, thus, in a moment of anger, he told his children to send him to a home instead. To his surprise, his children all agreed immediately! This make him lose all his confidence in his children after working so hard during his young days to fund them through their studies. From then on, his children had never visited him once.
As a Singaporean, all able-bodied men have to be called up to serve full-time national service (NS) for at least 2 years. Before I was recruited for NS, I visited him for the last time, informing him that I will not be around for 2 years and reminded him to take care of his health during this period. Finally, after 2 years of training ended, the first thing I did was to rush back to the folk's home and visit my friend. However, when I reach the place, the director of the folks home have changed, and my friend disappeared. I was told that his children fetched him home. I was disappointed but at the same time relieved. Disappointed, as I could not see him anymore. Relieved that his children finally fetched him back after leaving him in the folks' home for so many years.
Ten years passed without a word or trace of the old man. I have tried every way that I can to look for him, I even hired a private investigator to look for him, but he just cannot be found anywhere. Then, one morning, as I was having my breakfast, I opened the newspaper and saw a headline that wrote '' Old man Suffered From Massive Heart Attack'' and there shows a picture of him and I smiling at the camera during the old folks' home's anniversary.
The moment I saw the picture, I knew it was him. That was the photo that we took a day before I served full time NS. Immediately, I rushed off to the hospital hoping to see him for one last time. When he saw me, he said ''thank god for bringing my child back. I can now leave in peace.' With that, he passed away.
After this incident, it has made me realised that I have to treasure my parents' effort for funding me throughout my life. I would not want my parents to regret giving birth to me just like what my dearest friend that had just passed away.
The old man lay dying on the hospital bed. He had suffered from a massive heart attack and was now quickly losing his grip on life. Emaciated and pale, he was only a shadow of his former self. I stay by the bed and held his hand throughout the night. It was the least I could do. After all he had been there when I was in trouble.
I was only ten when I first met the old man. I was then in primary 4. My school organized a Community Involvement Programme (CIP) where I have to help out in a Elderly Home -- Thian Leng Old Folks Home. Fate had brought the old man and me together when I was appointed to take care of him by the teacher-in-charge.
I am very grateful to him, because without him, I wouldn't have been standing here today. As my parents were always busy working, slogging out their guts to earn more money to make my life more comfortable. Thus I am always alone at home. However, after that trip to Thian Leng Old Folks Home, I've found myself a partner, and that is the old man. At first, I started introducing myself, little did I know, we immediately hit it off so well. From then on, I decided to visit him once in a week, bringing him nutritious food. From then on, whenever I have troubles, I would always consult him, and amazingly, he seems to understand me and with just a few sentences, he seems to have solved my problem.
Ever since the first day I've met him, he seems to be very lonely too, that is why, every time I visit him, I would bring him out for a walk, as a way of relieving stress after being ''lock up'' in the folks home for a period of time. According to him, his children were all pushing away the responsibilities of taking care of him, thus, in a moment of anger, he told his children to send him to a home instead. To his surprise, his children all agreed immediately! This make him lose all his confidence in his children after working so hard during his young days to fund them through their studies. From then on, his children had never visited him once.
As a Singaporean, all able-bodied men have to be called up to serve full-time national service (NS) for at least 2 years. Before I was recruited for NS, I visited him for the last time, informing him that I will not be around for 2 years and reminded him to take care of his health during this period. Finally, after 2 years of training ended, the first thing I did was to rush back to the folk's home and visit my friend. However, when I reach the place, the director of the folks home have changed, and my friend disappeared. I was told that his children fetched him home. I was disappointed but at the same time relieved. Disappointed, as I could not see him anymore. Relieved that his children finally fetched him back after leaving him in the folks' home for so many years.
Ten years passed without a word or trace of the old man. I have tried every way that I can to look for him, I even hired a private investigator to look for him, but he just cannot be found anywhere. Then, one morning, as I was having my breakfast, I opened the newspaper and saw a headline that wrote '' Old man Suffered From Massive Heart Attack'' and there shows a picture of him and I smiling at the camera during the old folks' home's anniversary.
The moment I saw the picture, I knew it was him. That was the photo that we took a day before I served full time NS. Immediately, I rushed off to the hospital hoping to see him for one last time. When he saw me, he said ''thank god for bringing my child back. I can now leave in peace.' With that, he passed away.
After this incident, it has made me realised that I have to treasure my parents' effort for funding me throughout my life. I would not want my parents to regret giving birth to me just like what my dearest friend that had just passed away.
