L.I.F.E.

How true..

Saw the headline in the papers yesterday. "Every man dies, nit not every man truly lives." (Pg 6, The Citizen, April 10.)

Which is true. Kan...?

We get so caught up with work and all, that we forget to live.

I had a humbling experience semalam.. with regards to life.

I went to Souq Omdurman to buy some toys for the kids. We are having our little get-together at the Complex and I have been entrusted to 'keep the kids busy' while the mums and dads bergotong royong memasak.

Anyway, Souq Omdurman is a unique market to me. It's dusty and dirty and packed with people, cars, amjads, rakhshas (which is like the tuktuk) and even animals such as horses and donkeys.

Lots of toys.. and yes, I got the colorful balls and water guns for the kids

Azab ok.. nak naik kereta through the narrow streets

Eh donkey... ke tepi please... hehe

 Well anyway, being in Souq Omdurman wasn't THAT touching. I mean, it's a market lah. A chaotic market. A fun place to be sebab you can get almost anything at a very cheap price..

But what was humbling was when Anwar, my driver, saw me buy some toys for the kids, he wanted to get some for his kids too. (He has four boys, by the way.) I guess, bila dia tengok I beli toys.. hati dia juga melonjak untuk beli toys for his kids.

Now I know he doesn't earn much. And the toys are not exactly cheap. Well, they are cheap for me lah kan.. sebab I earn in Ringgit Malaysia.. but he earns in Sudanese Gineh (Sudanese Pounds or SDG).

He picked a few toys.. and put them back. Perhaps considering, because of the price.

I didn't want to interfere sebab I pun sibuk dok mintak discount for the rubber balls and water guns that I nak beli..

So anyway, I finally got the stuff and we headed back to the car. In the car, I asked him.. "So Anwar, I saw you bought some stuff. What did you get?"

And he gleefully replied: "I managed to get good discount. Three (toy) cars for SDG12. And two kites for SDG5 each."

Now that only added up to SDG22 kan.. not a really huge sum kan.. but I know it's a big amount to him. Just minutes earlier when we were in the car he was complaining that he's not received his overtime money.. and that he's not even sure if he's gonna get the money.

"Now company no good," he said. "Me still no receive overtime money."

I can't do much but told him to be patient. The money will come soon, I said.

But despite all that, he still got his kids some toys. Now if that isn't fatherly love, I don't know what is.

And it reminded me of my dad. I remember how I threw tantrums at my dad because I so wanted a diary for my 12th birthday (the one with the lock) and my dad didn't want to buy it for me initially. I pouted and all until my dad finally gave in and got me the pink diary (see.. I still remember the color).

It wasn't till years later that dad confessed that he ran out of cash at that time. Buying the diary would mean that he didn't have money for anything else. Yet, he bought it for me and had to get by without much money till his payday.

If I had known then, what I know now, I wouldn't have pouted sebab takde diary. Sigh. Sacrifices that some parents make just to make their child(ren) happy.

Anyway, my heart sank when I saw the cars and the kites. So I gave him some money.

"You know Anwar, just take this as hadiah from me," I said.

"No, no.. no need hadiah," he argued. But I insisted. I even wanted to give him some water guns and balls but really, I takut I tak cukup for the kids at the Complex. And I so could kick myself for not buying extra for his kids.

See.. we can be so selfish sometimes kan. Often forgetting the less fortunate.

So yeah. What a humbling experience it was. To see a father sacrificing whatever money he has just to make his kids happy.

And I thank God... for blessing me with awesome parents too.

Oh well. Such is life. Sometimes we get too caught up with work.. we don't even have time for our loved ones. Kan?

We always think we work for the money... sebab we want to live comfortably. But I did read somewhere...

"We work hard to earn some money.. to buy things we don't really need.. just to impress people we don't really like.. and to stay in a house that we don't really spend a lot of time in.. because we're just too busy working to make the money.."

Sigh.

Happy weekend semua.

I have to go now. Malam ni ada makan-makan. Woohoo.

Tadi I gave away the toy gun.. sprayed some water with the kids and left for the office to do some work.. and to blog.

Heh.

Ciao!

xoxo