“Everyone has a story left untold, so never judge someone as if you know their entire life story because the truth is, you probably don’t.”
The other day I was running to the nearest coffee shop to get a cup of blended cappuccino (which was a regular thing for me), I saw an old man talking to some homeless children near the coffee shop. The old man looked quite unpleasant with his untrimmed beard and his worn out clothes. I walked towards the coffee shop, and just as I was about to enter, I heard the old man say to the kids, “Get in the car children”. In that instant my body froze and I couldn’t even look their way, by the time I got myself to turn their way the car had already left.
I was baffled and surprised at the same time, I needed to know what the old man meant by what he said. I immediately thought of the worst, an untrimmed and unpleasant old man asking homeless children to get in the car would probably mean one thing, “The old man was planning to use the children for something awful”, I thought to myself (which everyone else would too). I tried to think of something else as it was not my business to go around investigating on matters which I did not have a clue on. Walking towards the city park, I saw the same man talking with another group of homeless children.
I didn’t know what to do, I was awestricken in a bad way. As the children walked towards the car, I hid myself near the family of oak trees nearby. As soon as the children got into the car, the old man started the ignition, and drove off. Luckily or unluckily my car was just steps away from where I was standing, and the voices inside my head was telling me to follow the car and also not to pursue it. Everything happened in just a moment’s time, and I was pursuing the old man’s car.
I couldn’t stop thinking about what would happen or what could be happening to the children in his car, or somewhere else. Imaging the worst case scenario, I could see flashes of dead bodies flipping through my mind. I slowed down my car as I neared an intersection to a narrow road. The old man’s car had entered the gate of a very old house. I parked my car just some minutes away from the gate and I walked on foot towards the gate. As I entered the gate, I couldn’t see anyone near the house except the car which was just parked outside the house.
I was in an undesirable dilemma as to whether I should enter the house or drive back safely to where I lived. But a constant fear of what could have happened to the children instilled a bit of courage in me to enter the house. As I neared the main door, I could hear my heart beat growing faster and faster with each step. The door was partially opened, I took the door knob on my hands and pushed the door and walked inside.
I couldn’t believe my eyes. I couldn’t move an inch. I froze right at the entrance.
A king’s dining table is what I saw. The children were seated on every chair available in the dining area. Laughter’s, smiles, giggles, and joy filled the entire room. The old man confused at my sight came towards me, and asked me why I was here. Feeling miserable and sorry, I told him the entire story to why I followed him here. The old man broke into laughter so hard that the entire house felt like it could break apart any moment. He took me by my shoulders and told me that he didn’t blame me for what I had imagined. After some minutes, he narrated to me his side of the story which instantly brought me into tears. I felt miserable and sad at the same time. The whole time I was imaging the horrors of the old man, I had no idea I was in the presence of an angel.
5 years ago on this day, the man lost his wife and 3 daughters to a terrible accident. Since that day, he had been gathering around homeless children from around the town and bringing them here every year of the day to feed them and clothe them, and allow them to feel the love of the family he lost. He said that it was his way of reliving the love of having a family.
I could see the children basking in love and happiness, I could see the happiness the children brought into the old man’s life. I apologized a thousand times to the old man, but all he said was, “Don’t be sorry young man. Everyone has a story untold, and we should not be ready to judge a person on how they appear to us”. I bade goodbye to the man and the children.
As I was driving back to my place, I couldn’t help but realize how big a fool I was. I allowed myself to make judgements based on my own misconception. I learnt a great lesson that day, and I promised myself to believe that no matter how a person may appear to us in our own perception of reality, we can never truly know them unless we know “the other side of the story”.
