It’s not too late to wish all Christians a very blessed Happy Easter! My lent season this year was not perfectly fullfilled. I forgot to attend Ash Wednesday and I missed Palm Sunday as well. Thankfully, as any of the previous years, no matter how busy or inconvenient I was, I made it a point to meet the Lord on Good Friday and Easter masses.

Today after Easter Sunday mass at Assumption PJ, I dropped by at Mid-Valley’s Food Junction for lunch.

As I waited for my spaghetti carbonara, an old man came and sat at the table besides me. My guess, he’d be around late 60s or early 70s. He was wearing white short-sleeve shirt with thin black stripes and dark coloured pants. His clothes wrinkled as much as his face and most of his hair was almost greying. From the moment he sat, throughout his lunch and until he left the table, his sad face was looking down at the food and his table most of the time.

I observed the old man with full interest. He had with him an English daily, the NST which means he must have had some level of education. As he seated, he took out a plastic bag from his worn-out sling bag. That was his lunch! A pack of nasi lemak and a piece of fried chicken. I stared at the price tags. Each of them were RM1. Could you imagine what sort of fried chicken would you get for RM1? There was barely flesh. The bone was covered with thick crispy flour. The old man had his pack of nasi lemak before settled his lunch off with the fried chicken. He seems to appreciate the simple lunch or maybe he was too hungry.

He continued to draw my interest. I was quietly observing and I felt really pity of him. It was just the right time at the right place, the Lord must’ve been trying to show me that I did not fulfill my Lent this season with full obligation. I didn’t really observe fasting this year. I really wanted to approach the old man to offer to buy him lunch but on second thought that might not be the right move. I could’ve offended or humiliated him instead of the intention of good gestures. After all, he already had his lunch. Alas, I just kept quiet and finished off my lunch.

File photo model: Amba J.

As the old man finished off the last meat on his fried chicken, he wrapped the bone back into the plastic and stored it in his bag. That bone must be for his cat or dog at home. He cleaned the table, disposed the nasi lemak wrapper into another plastic bag, gently stood up and excused himself as he tried to squeeze himself through the tight space in between our tables. I pushed away my table to give him some space as I watched him leaving.

He may be a poor man with a decent lunch but he has a lot of humility and common sense. First he asked if the table was occupied before he seated, he excused himself to get through as he was leaving and lastly he cleaned the table after his meal.

Simple values that many Malaysians have forgotten or rather ignored! My question to my fellow readers would be, should I offered him lunch after all?