The previous week, I got a chance to meet Mr.
X who lives in my neighborhood. It was the first time I came across him. As far
as I know, he spends most of his time at home and does not love meeting anyone.
We have been neighbors for about three years, neither my parents nor I ever saw
someone visiting him at his house. Basically, Mr. X loves his loneliness and is
not ready to change his lifestyle despite the fact that he is a retired
professor.
During my conversation with him, I realized
that Mr. X is not as bad as some people think him to be. The only problem he
has is depression. He lost his wife and children in a road accident some years
ago, and this gave him a big shock. Unfortunately, none of his relatives and
friends came forward to support him morally and financially, and since that
day, according to Mr. X, he has started hating them all. Most of his time is
spent at home, doing freelance writing, as he thinks that this is a good way to
earn some money without any need to leave the house.
The only time he gets out of the house is
when he has to buy the food, clothes or other necessities, and this happens
once or twice a month. I made him understand that life is full of problems and
challenges, but this does not mean he should quit on it. Instead, I requested
him to develop a friendship with a few educated and sensible individuals of the
town so that he could get back to normal life gradually.
Mr. X nodded and said that he had lost all of
his hopes and that he wanted to kill himself. The fact is that there are many
people like him who are left alone in their difficult times and this eventually
leads them to walk away. However, this is not the solution to any problem; God
has sent us to this world to bow before Him and to respect each other. Just
because Mr. X’s relatives and friends never stood with him in his tough time
does not mean all the people are wrong. In order to help him understand my
point of view, I invited Mr. X to my home so that he could meet my parents.
He agreed to visit us over the weekend, and I
prepared a delicious meal for him. Upon his arrival, I introduced him to my
parents, and we had a great time together. During our conversation, I could see
a smile on Mr. X’s face and felt that he was recovering from his mental problem
(depression).
I strongly believe that we should always be
loving and caring, no matter how difficult a person is to deal with. There is
no problem in this world that does not accompany a solution or two; the only
thing that matters is whether we lose the hope or keep up the spirit. This
morning, I met Mr. X and saw positivity in him. I want him to live a normal
life and meet new people because not everyone is equal. We all have both good
and bad habits. I wish him good luck and want to see him smiling for a lifetime.
He could have committed suicide if I had not brought him into confidence that
ups and downs are a part of life.
References
Hoagland, E. (2007). Jamaica
Kincaid: Writing Memory, Writing Back to the Mother (review). MFS
Modern Fiction Studies, 53(3), 630-634.
doi:10.1353/mfs.2007.0057
Forward, S. (2001). A Very
Different Story: Studies on the fiction of Charlotte Perkins Gilman. Womens
Writing, 8(3), 473-486. doi:10.1080/09699080100200195
Tunca, D. (2018). The danger
of a single short story: Reality, fiction and metafiction in Chimamanda Ngozi
Adichie’s “Jumping Monkey Hill”. Journal of Postcolonial Writing, 54(1),
69-82. doi:10.1080/17449855.2017.1419833
