The kindness, the giving, that came, at the right time, in this man’s, direst hours of need, translated…
Three years ago, before Father’s Day, I’d accidentally learned, about how my daughter’s college classmate, Chen’s family was in trouble, and they were, in desperate need of a couple dozen thousand dollars.
I’d only met Chen once, it was when my daughter took a group of her classmates home, on her graduation trip. From the countryside in the south, he was, tall and slim, shy, and very down-to-earth, looked just like a son of a farmer.
I’d heard my daughter tell me, that after Chen served his army term, he’d wanted to marry a younger schoolmate whom he’d dated for years on end. But, after they were wed, he’d, bumped into some hardships at work, with the downturn in economy, he was, laid off, and started, working as a laborer in a construction company of his classmate’s father’s, with unstable pay. His wife couldn’t accept this, and wanted to divorce. After he divorced, he’d, lived with his five-year-old son, and, lifted his aging parents to live with him.
With the measly pay, he’d needed to keep his whole family, and also needed to pay the rents, sometimes, he’d, run out of cash before the end of the month. Knowing that he was in desperate need of some money, I’d, pulled out $50,000N.T. from the red envelope my son gave to me, and had my daughter give it to him. To not make him feel pressured, I’d had my daughter put the money inside a red envelope, with the words, “Happy Father’s Day, Uncle Chen” printed.
As Chen got the red envelope, he’d thanked her, and had her told me, that he couldn’t, pay me back anytime soon, hoped that I could, give him a little more time. My daughter told me, “You didn’t borrow anything, why would you need to pay back? My mother said, it was for Uncle Chen, you don’t need to pay too much heed to it, just take good care of your family!”
And, that, was over, and I’d, forgotten it all. And yet, on that day, my daughter received a call from Chen, he’d told her he’d had $20,000N.T. saved up, and wanted her to ask me if he should pay what he had first, or, should he pay me back the $50,000N.T. I’d loaned him in sum together? My daughter still, repeated what she’d told him from back when, that we only hoped he takes good care of his families.
Hearing my daughter tell me, I cried out of joy, it wasn’t, because Chen was, finally, paying me back, but, how he was, doing better than he was before, that he can save the money up, even if it wasn’t, too much, for him, it was, something good, how can I not be happy for him!
This, is the help, that came, to the man, in his direst hours of need, the family “loaned” the money to the man, when he was desperately in need, and, they’d not, expected him to pay them back, and, the man who’d received the kindness, the money from the family, kept in mind, that he’d, owed the family the amount, and, wanted to pay the family back, but, the family only wanted to help him out, they’d not, expected, nor wanted, him to pay them back.
Life, the Obstacle Course 