THE OPEN MIND COLLECTION

It Always Comes Around

     "It's the sun, it's the moon, it's the rain, it's the harvest...and it's the man you owe money. It always comes around..."

"What does?"

Father stared at son and saw how ignorance blind-folded his vision. Luckily they had enough time to talk before the bus came to the terminus and so they sat under the shade to take shelter from the showers. "Everything..." he told him. "I remember my father telling me how he never gave a seat to the old in the bus when he was growing up. Perhaps he didn't think he would grow up to be as old as them but he did and no young man ever stood up for him to sit. He always saw his young, ignorant self in these young men who never saw their old selves in him..."

When they boarded the bus it stopped a couple more times to pick up more people and it was full but an old lady stood in the rain with nothing to shelter her and so the bus stopped for her. Terence remembered the story about his grandfather that his father told him and he quickly stood up and gave her his seat. She was grateful.

"Give a hand to your young brothers and sisters, Terry. They will do the same for you someday...and someday can be any day." Terence's mother always advised him when his siblings did their school projects or difficult chores. He obeyed.

"Always remember the people around you. Give to the community and it will remember you forever" the teachers and leaders of community taught the youths. He also did as they said.

"Don't play around with women. Don't ever cheat. The same thing will come back to you" his uncles advised him on his relationship. He never cheated on his woman.

Terence did every good he could but when he was involved in an accident his own siblings did not care enough to just visit him in the hospital. When 'someday' came they never helped back the man who had paid for them to finish their studies. His legs were amputated and he could no longer work under the councillor and serve his community. He received no retirement package to assist him in his joblessness. The people knew him because he did a lot of good for them and introduced projects for them. They remembered...to forget him.

How could his wife remain with a crippled, jobless man? She did...but she slept with another man. He broke the marriage and retired into a home for the disabled where he would live for the rest of his life. Even then the community never assisted the disabled amongst them...and a day never came when a young man would stand for him to sit in a bus because he was crippled.

"It doesn't always come around..." Terence told his son and granddaughter when they visited him. He didn't look as disappointed as he sounded. "Life is obviously not fair. Don't do any good thing because you expect the same to be done for you. You'll be disappointed. It's not about what THEY, the people around you do. It's all about what YOU do. If they do bad things, it doesn't mean you should too. It's better to be safe, so always respect the old, lend a hand to help, remember the people around you and give to the community and don't ever cheat.... It might just come around."