The Richest Bastard on Earth.

An hour before midnight

I left the house to fetch my mom home from work

I was busy thinking about the problems that I have today

making ppl angry, making myself angry, not achieving what i want

and a myriads of other problems that

makes me feel so weak so useless so dejected

I drove aimlessly cos its like an auto drive

that recognizes the route to my mom's office (

without TRAFFIC cos its such a dead night....

Mom came into the car still energetic after a day's work

I asked her my standard question "how was work?"

She replied enthusiastically that there

was a really good recorder/secretary that came to help

I said, "oh...." and mom goes on and on,

while I dwell on my problems and drove aimlessly....

"she was really different, in the way she handles work,

she thinks a step ahead for you, solution before problem arises,

and does things beyond what she is suppose to do,

i think it becomes a second nature coming from a family like hers..."

that caught my interest, "what do you mean?"

my mom goes on with her story and not really answering my question

"when she went for an inspector interview last year,

the examinar told her that she's too fat, and

her fitness level is not up to par,

but she wants the inspector rank so bad,

she told the examiner to keep her on the list for one more year,

and she will be back to take the exam with better fitness

and she promise that she will slim down too,"

mom goes on " but i look at the young girl today....

i think she's still not fit enough to pass this year,

so i asked her how many weight did she lose?

she said 10kg, i personally think she's not gonna make it,

its not abt losing the weight, its building her fitness too,

but i didnt think it was a right thing to say to her,

i asked her instead why is she so determined for that inspector exam?

she said because the pay cheque is higher as an inspector,

and thats because as the eldest, she is taking care of her mom

and her younger brother...."

i was thinking, eldest of the family is a really familiar term for me too.

so whats the big deal here? i tried my best to take of my family too.

until my mom said.....

"her family only source of income was her father,

who passed away few years ago, and because of that,

the siblings of the father, came and take away the house

that they are living in! losing the main source of income,

without a shelter, the mom, the younger brother

and herself are forced to leave, she came to KL to find a job

to support her family, when she started working,

she didnt even have a proper address to live in,

and at the same time she needs to transfer

her younger brother to come study in town,

so they can all live together,

but without a valid address, or proper paperwork

there was no way she can get him here,

she went to the city school, literally, begged the headmaster

to accept her brother somehow, as she was telling me this,

she wasnt complaining, it was merely sharing,

she told me that through all the hardest times,

she had cried, she had teared, but her focus was to survive,

i admire her positiveness, a lot would've given up already,

so the exam is really crucial to her, because it means

an extra few hundred ringgit more to live on,

she even said that during chinese new year,

she prbbly spend as much as us chinese,

because her brother loves mandarin oranges,

but they cannot afford the luxury,

but she kept that in mind, and saved for the occasion,

she went to giant hypermarket for 3 boxes of mandarin oranges,

and bring it home, her brother was so happy with it,

and she said he could eat 1 crate all by himself!"

my mom continued

"and yet we cant even finish that bowl in our house!"

"when i called her in for work today was because,

my other recorder couldnt work odd night shift,

because she is a single mom, with a 5 year old kid at home,

if she works night shift, she will have to carry her baby here,

to sleep in the office while she work until the morning,

so between these two recorders, we decided to ask the first girl

to come and work with us, even before i mentioned anything

about meal allowance, she happily agreed to help us,

so i guess she'll be really happy in the end

when we really do give her supper allowance,"

i asked, "and how much will that be?"

"8 ringgit"

believe me, 8 ringgit makes a huge difference.

because i've met some of them and i know their stories too.

if you could only see how they treasure one ringgit,

you will feel like the richest bastard on earth. seriously.