On Burning Bin and Rubik's Cube

I met a young man on my way home from work.

We were waiting to cross the road at the traffic light when we realised that smoke was coming out from the rubbish bin near the junction.

As the rain had almost abated, I didn’t think dragging the rubbish bin under the skies would help. We stared at it for a few more seconds.

I asked the young man if he had water on him. He reached into his backpack and pulled out an empty water bottle.

Before I could suggest using the water bottle to scoop rain water from the puddles, he had removed the lid of the bin.

I started leafing through the rubbish to see where the smoke was coming from, removing burning items from the bin and promptly putting them out.

That's when he decided to put his feet down (literally into the rubbish bin) to stomp out the smoke.

So two heads and an army boot later, we managed to quell the source of the fire.

Don’t ask me why and how. Just had to do what had to be done, with whatever resources there were available.

With the burning and smoke behind us, we went our separate ways only to run into each other at the bus-stop.

When the opportunity arose to compliment him on what he did, I seized it.

In turn out that we stay in the same tiny out-of-the-way estate, so we chatted on the bus.

I was heartened by what I have seen in the young man.

Just as I was when my teenage cousin helped my grandmother down the stairs.

Or when his younger brother asked if I could wish his mummy “Happy Birthday” when I called my aunt last Friday.

Children and youths with big hearts. Is it just me or are they getting rarer?

Some time ago, I sat beside a primary school boy on the bus. He had a Rubik's cube in his hands and I asked if he could fix it.

He did it in a few minutes. I was impressed, so I asked him how he managed to do it so fast. He said by memory.

I figured that if he can remember the steps to fix a Rubik's cube that fast, he has to be good in mathematics.

So I probed further and asked him what was his favourite subject in school and he said, “Mathematics”.

I went on to tell him that he should try to develop what he is good at, especially when it is an interest.

I told him that as people get older, the challenge to follow our heart increases. But I hope he would not give up.

He was shy and unassumingly throughout our conversation. As we alighted from the bus, I introduced myself and he told me his name, “Halyfi”.

When I stretched out my hand, he clasped it with both hands and extended to me the greeting due a Muslim elder in dutiful fashion.

I was reminded of the importance of investing in our youths, believing in their future and raising them well.

I don’t know what God would have said but He knew on both occasions that these youngsters have encouraged my heart.

And as my sister-in-law would put it, "Hard to find such quality among teenagers nowadays. But thank God that each time we meet one,

we'll be mindful there's still hope, especially in our life-changing God."

Sv ",+