People from All Around The World.

This is based on my real life experience, one I rarely tell people about. 

I feel lucky that I've got the chance to know some nice people around the world. I've come to realize that there are so many things I've yet to see and so many lessons I've yet to learn. Meeting these people from all around the world opens my eyes to the unknown treasures. As one once said, "What's life without a little bit risk?" Life is a chance you have to take on. It's short. And you can only have it once. If we don't do what we want to right now, how do we know that the same opportunity will present itself twice in our life? This is not about learning and trying new things. This is also about opening your heart to accept and get to know new people.

"If you judge people, you have no time to love them."

How true. Sometimes, we spend the whole time judging everyone we meet and we simply overlook their unique characteristics and forget to love them. In every person, there is the bright and the dark side. There's a good side and the evil side. What matters is which side we choose to act on. Of course, nobody's perfect. It is difficult to see all the goodness in every person and love them anyway. Why is it difficult? Because what meets the eyes often are the badness of a person. By noticing their weakest points, we gain the feeling of being stronger and more powerful. We thought we would look better. It's sad how we should secure ourselves with such a way. Isn't it better if we meet all the great people in the world and learn from them? Even, we can learn from every person, not just the great ones.

I met Tony in Milan, Italy, two years ago. The encounter left a deep impression on me. At that time, I was in the middle of a shopping spree program designed by my tour guide. Of course, my family and I couldn't afford the stuffs. All the shops lining neatly were branded shops such as Gucci, Louis Vuitton, etc,. Therefore, we decided to switch to all nation's hang-out place, McDonalds. That was where I met him. When we walked into the restaurant, the place was very crowded. After sifting through the tables, we (my mother, my sister and I) found an empty table with a cup of coffee half full on it. I thought someone had left the table and whoever that person must've decided to leave the coffee, so we sat down. Not long after, there was a Western guy came over and told us that the coffee was his. He then took the cup and was about to leave when I suddenly felt uneasy. I knew there was nowhere else to sit. I then told him that he should take my seat but he refused my offer. I insisted before he reluctantly accepted my offer. We sat down without talking to each other for few minutes. Then I felt a sudden urge to smile at him. It was the simples gesture on earth but at that time, it was not easy to do that. I didn't grow up in a friendly neighborhood/society where everyone smiles at strangers easily. But I did it anyway, and boy, aren't I glad I did it. He returned my smile with a much more friendly smile and we got to talking. My mother, being a sensitive and negative person she is, seemed not to like the idea of me getting in a conversation with a stranger. I knew she was eager to interrupt me but she was rather helpless since she couldn't speak any English. She only eyed me stiffly from where she sat but I couldn't care less about her. Tony had this soothing calm voice that reflected a glimpse of playfulness and he immediately had my undivided attention. We were sitting rather closely and since I wasn't really confident on my listening skill, I leaned towards him to hear his every words and I think this was another reason why my mother would love to drag me out of the store.

I was grateful having met Tony that day, I still am and I will always be, because he told me how I had brightened up his day. He told me that he was from New York and he visited Italy to live with his brother for few months. There would be someone who would come from New York to join him. He said he'd been hanging around the city for three weeks and always ending up at McDonalds. He would sit alone, watching people come and go while sipping his hot coffee. When I asked him what he did for a living, he took out an old picture of his. He was a wedding dress designer and the picture showed a very good-looking, well-cut, friendly, and lively young man dressed in suit. We had a great casual talk, until I asked him why he spent his times rather meaninglessly in Italy. I wondered why he didn't visit somewhere more exciting or do something more challenging. It was when I asked the question that he unbuttoned his shirt and showed me a lump on his chest. He told me, he only had 3 more months to live. And the last thing he wanted would be wasting time traveling from one point to another. The time spent on the journey themselves was too precious. It didn't matter where he was, or who he spent time with. It was rather a confusing concept for me to digest so I probed deeper. I asked him how could he feel satisfied spending 3 weeks sitting alone with bad coffee at McDonalds? He then told me that he was never alone. He saw a lot of people. Tourists walked by, all happy and glowing. People were laughing and enjoying the times of their lives. They looked so blissfully happy, he could share their happiness and felt happy too. I was rather speechless. It was before I was about to tell him how I didn't believe him when I saw his old wrinkled face and I realized, he wasn't telling a lie. Tony said, "I don't need people feeling sorry for me because I'm about to die. I'm happy when someone came over and said hi." I only smiled to his words. He continued, "If I make someone's life easier only by offering him or her a seat, it's really enough. The little things matter."

I almost cried. And I am the last person on Earth who would or could cry in public. Not only I was touched by his words but the way he said it was so... simple. And peaceful. He was beaming and I couldn't cry. I couldn't offend him in such a way. I listened to him, relenting to speak more than necessary and letting him touch my soul. During those 20 minutes, he told me so many things. And at last, we finished the conversation and he stood up. He offered to buy me some ice cream. I told him it was supposed to be on me but he only laughed at me. He then had this playful spark in his eyes when he told me that I would make the perfect daughter one can ask for. He regretted the fact I couldn't be his daughter and he offered me to go back to NY with him and marry his youngest son, Richard. He went on promoting his son, telling me how he was a handsome (not as handsome as he was when he was young, though, he said) and successful 29-year-old lawyer. I didn't know what to say. I asked him why he could even think of joking about something like that. He replied, "I've prepared some stuffs for Richard's brothers and sisters, but he's the only one whom I haven't prepared anything for. So, why not a nice girl from him? You are beautiful, very nice, and you would make the perfect gift."

I didn't accept compliments daily. But I've received compliments for sure. As a human, there were some people who hated me and some who loved me. But never ever, in my 19 years of life, I felt so beautiful and appreciated. I felt like I've done something very good. I was... what I felt was pure joy and gratitude. What I did was only... talk. I really felt like I was the most beautiful woman at that time and I did cry.  I hugged him and told him, "I'd really love to do that. I'd love to go New York and marry your son. Thank you. But now, I gotta go because my tour guide is calling me over there." Tony kissed both of my cheeks and smiled, "Thanks for accepting the offer. Have a safe trip and enjoy your holiday."

Enjoy your holiday. These three cliche words have always been meaningless to me, I always took them for granted. I never thought how a cup of coffee could brighten both of our days so much. I came to a realization that you would never, never know when you'd meet someone really special. Someone so special, he or she would leave such a deep impression in your heart. I would never find out that Tony was in need of a friend to talk to or that he would die in few months' time, had I decided not to offer him my seat. I couldn't imagine what I would've missed had I been as grumpy, negative and suspicious as my mother. I probably would only sit beside Tony with a stinky face and did nothing. I learned a lesson that day. A little smile can start something worthwhile. So, be nice to everybody. Spread love everywhere you go. Let no one leaves you without being happier. And it could be anyone. Not only someone you meet on vacation but probably someone you sitting next to you on the bus to work this morning

If today I haven't said my prayer, I will do it now. I'm thanking for the opportunity to having met Tony. We came from different worlds, different parts of the Earth, different races and different generations. Different backgrounds and different paths of life. But still, we met. Today is almost exactly two years after my encounter with Tony. I met him 19 July 2007 on the afternoon. It's 17 July 2009 today. I hope he's happy wherever he is right now. And I hope Richard had received his gift from his father.

(dedicated to Tony Morgan)