4 Timely Advices from Strangers

Strangers - sometimes, you need them.

I remember having a conversation with someone I met at a Soulful Living Workshop on how strangers are, to me, a sign from God, appearing when needed - somehow saving me from my loneliness and sometimes from the ugly forces of the world with their kindness.

I met many of them on my daily commute to and fro work. I don't always have a pleasant experience - in fact, I can safely say that most of the time the experience is pretty annoying - but there are breaths of fresh air once in a while, and the people who are nice exude their beautiful personality so well that I can, until now, remember the words that we exchanged during those split-second conversations.

Negative plus negative, equals positive!

This one's my favourite. I was once staring at the chicken rice stall at the canteen in Ngee Ann Polytechnic (where I studied), trying to figure out what to order for lunch. I had a sore throat but my taste-buds were craving for the spicy satay-flavoured chicken, because that's what your body and mind do to you when you're unwell, right?

When it came my turn, I hesitated again. I can still vividly recall my conversation with the 'uncle' behind the counter:

Uncle: "Yes, girl, your order?"

Me: "Erm, sweet sour. No satay. No, wait!"

Uncle: "Cannot make up your mind, is it?"

Me: "Ya, I want the satay but I have a sore-throat, uncle. Maybe I should stick to the sweet-and-sour one."

Uncle: "Aiyah, girl, negative plus negative equals positive!!"

Me: *laughs* "OK SET! One plate satay, please!"

Uncle: "OKAY!"

I use his words of advice until today! Every time someone moans about how they can't eat, for instance, ice cream thanks to a flu/cough … yup, you guessed it.

Nag me, now

When I was working full time, I did not live under the same roof as my family members, so going back to an empty house was very depressing at times. Thankfully, the uncles who work at the petrol kiosk just below my house are rare gems.

I remember once when I was walking home from the bus stop quite late at night, feeling a little down and tired after a long day at work, when I contemplated how nice it would be to have someone pamper me at home right that moment. I was sad that I wouldn't have anyone to nag at me for coming home late, or to ask me if I had my dinner yet.

Lo and behold, I hear a "GIRL!" from ahead. It was the 'alright uncle' (he yells "ALRIGHT, MAN!" every single time I walk pass). He tapped on his wrist and went:

"Why so late? Why do you look so tired? Have you eaten?"

I smiled, answered his questions and thanked him. I also wished him a good evening.

I reached home, shut the door behind me and started crying. God does work in mysterious ways. I wanted someone to nag at me for coming home late and eating properly, and there you have it, I got it from a stranger.

There is never nothing to do!

To be fair, a stranger didn't say this. It was actually my lecturer, who well, if you think about it was quite the stranger for we never do know much about the life of our teachers (this is prior to the dominance of worldly things like Facebook).

My classmate and I were walking out of a group discussion with him, grumbling about what we could do between then and the next class, about 4 hours later. Just as we were making a decision, our lecturer asked where we were going next.

Me: "Don't know, maybe catch the first movie of the day. There's nothing to do!"

Him: "There's never nothing to do."

That was it. Ever since then, whenever I get bored, I remind myself to NEVER complain about the fact that I have nothing to do. Look and you'll find a million things, productive or not.

Don't try to change things that are already written out for you.

It was a happy day. I sat down with a friend at The Soup Spoon for a bowl of hearty soup, because we had no idea what else to eat for dinner. He doesn't quite fancy the place but we had given up on our search for a quiet spot to sit at, so this was it.

We ordered a bowl of soup which wasn't ready yet. The cashier told us to get seated first.

While waiting, we conversed about how our day went, and me being me, observed our neighbours at other tables. I noticed a few couples, a relatively messy man, and then, I saw her; the waitress, an elderly lady who had the biggest smile on her face, and with nothing but kind words for everyone.

Our turn came. She set the bowl of mushroom soup down and asked us if we wanted anything else. To our dismay, the cashier had forgotten part of our order so my friend raised his hand to call the waitress. She came, helped us get what we wanted, even our forks and spoons which were meant to be self-service and did everything with a smile. I had a sore throat so she even got our ice removed from the drink.

Awesome service aside, she said something to me while we were talking about the current state of life in Singapore (yeah, it was a good conversation). I can't remember exactly what it was in response to but she waved her finger at me and said "don't try to change things that heaven has already written out for you".

When I went home, I realise what she said had a great impact on something that I was thinking all day but had forgotten about when I met my friend. Her words have helped, and still stay strong and impactful for me up till date.

So do all the other advices I've gotten.

Thank you, strangers.