The Mighty Mighty CK

I had a bad day yesterday. I had to travel close to 100km to a 7-11 branch to do systems upgrading there and as soon as I finished my job, I hopped into my car just to find out that the car wouldn’t start. Turned out the battery was flat and I don’t know anybody nearby that can help me jump start the car. I managed to get the 7-11 field manager to jump start the car but it failed. I was broke (part of being on your own business is that either you have money or you don’t at all because your clients don’t pay on time. Fucking Malaysians!). Anyway I managed to get cash elsewhere, got a new battery installed and reached home safely, all tired and flushed out.

But the turning point of the day was when I was in the store. There was this guy who works there who had Down Syndrome from birth. According to the store manager he’s been working there for 14 years, since he finished high school, and all he does is mop the floor and clean up the place. He wears a white head cap normally worn by Muslim male, and he was a very hardworking guy. I can see him cleaning the same patch of floor at least once an hour, and the store was very clean, compared to the other stores I’ve been. It’s what he’s been doing for the past fourteen years, and should he been born normal he would have been a field manager by now.

As he takes his lunch break, I observed him while he sits at the back of the store where the stock and office was, on a plastic carton, taking out his lunch. It was a simple meal: rice, chicken soup with small chunks of chicken and a tail section of fried fish. It was a humble meal, and a meal he ate and at the same time enjoyed. After his meal he went back to his work and when the time came, he walked back home.

He led a simple but normal life, despite his physical and mental lack ness. I didn’t pity him, I envy him.

We live a life worrying about ten million things: why are our Saturdays and Sundays not filled with fun and laughter, why do we have to deal with people that don’t understand us, why can’t we have a decent romantic relationship, why we can’t go shopping and buy that brand new Gucci handbag and lots more. We complain and complain as we get caught up with life’s rat race and often ridicule ourselves with trivial things that happen in our family and friendship with others. But this guy gets to opt out of the inane courteous formalities which are utterly meaningless, insincere, and therefore degrading. He doesn’t have to pretend to be interested in your back pain, or your excretions, or your grandma’s itchy place. Can you imagine how liberating it would be to live a life free of all the mind-numbing social niceties?

I may not remember his name, but I will certainly not forget the way he made me think today.