Lima - The cleaning lady

Walking down the street feeling lost and depressed, seeing various types of races rushing, passing by, you couldn't help but to wonder what do they have in their minds. What are they thinking? What do they feel? thankful? satisfied? happy? sad? worried?

And you randomly examined their facial expression. Their body language. One by one.

'They don't have Allah. How then do they survive? How then do they cope with all these tensions, stress being poured onto them? Are they normal? Is it normal not having anything to hang on to?'

And as you walk down the street, in the opposite direction of the oldest church in Vienna, Stephansdom with only one tower, you catch a glimpse of her. You knew her long ago. She looks like any typical Austrian's Oma. Grey hair, wrinkled face, thin pale skin, short and quite pumpy. You smile, for it was almost 3 years since you last saw her. 

The cleaning lady from your school. The one who you used to smile, greet, talk to, and to whom you tell your problems to, accompanied by her mops, broomsticks, pails and all. Yup, she's the one. No doubt.

'Hallo! Schon lange nicht mehr gesehen! Wie geht's Ihnen?' (Hallo! Long time no see! How are you?) 

'Na, hallo! Nicht so gut, dir?' (Oh, hallo! Not that well, you?) 

'Gut, danke. Ich studiere jetzt an der TU. Ich hab schon seit langem die Schule nicht besucht.' (Good, thanks. I am studying in TU now. I haven't visited the school for ages.) 

'Ich bin nicht mehr in der Schule. Ich bin krank, hab Nieren- und Rückenproblem. Sie sagten, dass ich ins Pension gehen muss, da es schlecht für meine Gesundheit ist zu arbeiten. Aber ich brauche Geld.' (I'm no longer in the school. I'm sick. I have problem with the nerv and back. They told me to quit my job as the work is effecting my health. But I need money.)

Everyone has problem. It's not the matter of whether it is big or small. It's the matter of how you deal with it. Your attitude towards it. Problem comes not just by chance. It has a specific, distinct purpose to come, to happen, to enter your life.

The same type of problem will come to you if you don't change. There is always something in you that you need to change. And to look for what that really is, to figure it out, is not an easy job. Find it anyway. Dig the inner you. Find it, understand how and why it is like that, find the source and change it. And ask for His guidance for only He can give you Light. Change.

Else the very same problem will come to you and stays enveloping your life.

The common mistake we make: we want to change, but there is no one there offering us a helping hand. 
Although we lived long enough to understand that there's no one in this world who can help us, only you can help yourself. And you knew too well that what you are saying is merely an excuse. A perfect escape.

*             *              *

You hug her before bidding goodbye. She hugs you tight. You can feel the desperate need of support, of something to hang on to from her brace. With all the troubles that come knocking your door, you know what a warm hug means. Almost everything. Without Him you are alone. 

'Vergiss mich bitte nicht. Und ich werde dich nie vergessen. Nie.' (Please, don't forget me. And I will never forget you. Never.) 

'Nein, werde ich nicht. Nie' (No, I'll never do. Never.) 

You answer with a smile, your eyes looking right to hers.

How can you forget someone who cheered you up in the locker room on your first time entering an alient school with an alient language?