Maple’s Special – 15
The old man selling newspaper.
It’s so cold, yet he’s smiling and doing his business.
When I first saw him, I got a feeling that I will continue buying his newspapers from then on. I guess the reason why I feel drawn to him is due to his temperate attitude. Though he is about 70 years old, he strives hard to earn money.I don’t know the story behind why he is still working at such age which is supposed to be leading life blissfully with grandchildren, but I admire his determination.
He woke up very early, even earlier than a student like me. Around 7am, you will see that he is already sitting still in the middle of corridors. He just sits there and waits for customers to come. From his posture, he reminds me of my grandfather in Malaysia. Perhaps when people age, their postures will all turn out to be the same.
For so long, I never see him talking lot to people. The most frequent word I heard from him is just “1.5 RMB”, the price of newspaper. Seriously I have to admit that, I bought the first paper from him because I felt pity for him. I sympathize him for working at such an old age and under such a cold weather. But after that I realized that despite his age, his working ability is actually comparable to the youngster. The latest Story Newspaper always reaches his stall one day earlier than other stalls. Instead of simply sympathy, his hardworking and efficiency become the reasons why I become “addicted” to his newspaper subsequently.
Know why I tell you this? Because I feel that he is a thumb-lifting model that all of us must learn.
He never takes advantage that he is an elderly and begging for money. Instead, he lives on his own feet. No matter how freezing the weather is or how heavy the downpour is, he will still be there, right at the position where he supposed to be. Though I don’t know if he is really willing to sell newspaper like this, but at least I know that he is working out his best, to be determined to what he has to do.
There are times when I really don’t feel like going class or do stuff that I supposed to do due to the comfortable sleeping in rainy days. But whenever I want to give up, the old man image will somehow flicker through my mind. His determination will pull me up from the bed and do what I supposed to do.
I guess there’s always something or someone who becomes the drive to your life, perhaps just nice, I met him in China.
Labels: Maple's Special